


XJ-9 and the Glitch Techs

by SunshineHeroSol



Series: Danger Watch Universe [2]
Category: Glitch Techs (Cartoon), My Life as a Teenage Robot, Steven Universe (Cartoon), a little Ben 10
Genre: Danger Watch, Danger Watch Universe, Shared Universe, The Red Eye, mcu - Freeform, working relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 08:13:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24966520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineHeroSol/pseuds/SunshineHeroSol
Summary: When Hinobi Tech Agents Five and Miko are sent to investigate a strange occurrence in New Mexico, they stumble upon a world of alien spaceships, corporate secrets, and a sentient teenage robot who calls herself "Jenny". Can these newfound friends overcome threats from the past, or will the mistakes of their elders come back to haunt them? (Danger Watch: Phase 1, Book 2)
Series: Danger Watch Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1755103
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	1. Moped Mambo

**Author's Note:** _Hey! Welcome to a new story! I'm working on writing a fanfiction universe that functions like the MCU, with each story being one part of an overarching plot. More about that in my bio. For now, enjoy!_

* * *

_**Phase One, Book Two** _

_**XJ-9 and the Glitch Techs** _

* * *

**Chapter 01: Moped Mambo**

_New Mexico_

_October, 2009_

_Afternoon_

From her vantage point on the crest of the hill, the young woman could clearly see her partner on the streets below, due in part to the binoculars that she held cupped to her eyes. Her partner, a tall and lanky Latino man about her age, did his best to look casual, one hand in his pocket and the other brushing through his hair every few seconds. He craned his neck from side to side, as if looking out for something The woman on the hill snorted.

"Come on, Five." she said, "you look like you're trying to buy drugs. Or guns. Or… organs."

The woman watched as Five reacted to her voice coming through the speaker in his ear. He stopped and looked around before putting his wrist com up towards his face discreetly, pressing a button on the side so that his partner could hear him.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"You're stiff, dude," she said. "Just calm down. You're here for a glitch, not a hand off."

"Glitch" was a catch-all word for anything strange and abnormal that Hinobi Tech's private police force was tasked with recovering or destroying. The huge, conglomerate corporation had many fields that they raked in multinational currency through. The most front facing was the Hinobi Company, which produced video games, and was a leader in the virtual reality department. While the technology on the shelves was still rudimentary, and in competition with the likes of Sony, the services that Hinobi Tech offered behind closed doors were in a league of their own.

Some time after the the 1960's, Hinobi tech scientists began researching theories of matter transfer, and more specifically, the creation of every day objects with the push of button. For decades, the company used the profits from its video game success, along with a private security force that they hired out like mercenaries, to fund research into this idea. Nobody was entirely certain why, but come the modern day, Hinobi was the only organization on the planet in possession of a technology that was dubbed "Digital Construction". The name was often shorted to Digistruction by those who used it frequently, this being primarily Hinobi's private police.

After the unveiling of the Digistruction miracle, the force was equipped with and taught to utilize the technology in specialized training seminars. This proved disastrous, and Hinobi lost hundreds of millions of dollars on the test. Shortly after, they decided to create an entirely new division that would research, contain, and perform tests with Digistruction. This task force was gradually put in charge of the stranger requests sent to Hinobi's private police; the requests containing glitches. This earned them the nickname "Glitch Techs."

Agent "Five" and and his partner on the hill, Agent "Miko", were two such Techs, though neither of them wore their official uniforms, so as not to raise any suspicion. The two of them had been tracking a glitch for a couple of days now, after being dispatched to the area by their boss, a higher ranking officer named Phil. Unlike the two Techs, Phil didn't have a codename. Thus, Five and Miko had started calling him Agent "Phil."

Phil had told them as much as he knew about the glitch: apparently, whatever it was had been hacking into electronics in the area. Phones, televisions, computers, traffic lights; anything that seemed to be from this century. It had been pretty easy to pick up the trail of ghost stories, and the trail had led them to this town, out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by tumbleweeds and desert. They weren't actually that far from the New Sea (on which New Mexico shared a coast with Texas, Dakota, and Chicagofornia) but you couldn't tell due to the miles and miles of obscuring sand dunes. It was on one of these dunes that Miko was positioned on.

"Do you wanna trade?" Five said into his wrist com, continuing his stroll into town. "I'll gladly be lookout."

"Don't be such a baby," Miko said, shifting so that she was in a more comfortable laying position. "You were lookout last time."

"Last time, the glitch was a couple of teenagers with spray paint and Halloween masks," Five replied. He was now in a busy street market, and was making a show of pretending to browse people's wares.

"And this time it's a weird tech monster that can possess whatever it touches," Miko said, "does it really make a difference?"

"Um, yes," Five said as he rounded a corner, "it really does. Do you even listen to yourself when your talk, or is it more of a one way thing?"

"Oh, hey, shut up for a second!" Miko said, suddenly excited. "Look out!"

"What o'clock?" Five asked, freezing in place and looking around.

"What o-? What the hell does that mean, Five?" Miko asked.

"Like, if I were standing in the middle of an analog clock," Five said in a frantic half whisper, "where would the bad guys be?"

"What the-," Miko shook her head, "dude that's way too complicated, just look in front of you!"

"That's 12 o'clock," Five said, just to get the last word, before looking ahead. His eyes widened.

Speeding through the crowd, and directly towards Five, was a moped. There wasn't anybody driving he moped, but it was zipping along like a sea foam colored dart, its engine straining. People shouted and jumped aside as it continued its breakneck pace towards Five, who realized too late the moped's intentions. Once he did, he turned tail and started sprinting the other direction.

"Everybody clear out!" The young man shouted, waving his hands above his head. "Move it, it's about to get weird!"

Miko, meanwhile, wasted no time. As soon as she saw what was about to transpire, she scrambled to her feet, and began to dash down the sandy hill. As her sneaker hit pavement, she started to dig around in a satchel that hung off of her shoulder. She pulled out a pair of hi-tech looking goggles, which she put on immediately. Then, she produced an elbow length glove, which was decked out with some kind of electronic keyboard and a small screen. She pulled the glove on, and the screen blinked on. _Welcome, Mi-K.O._ the screen read. As she passed an ornate fountain, Miko grinned, pulling out a matching pair of goggles and another glove before continued to run towards her partner.

By the time that Miko got to him, the rogue vespa had almost caught up to him, the hot rubber of the tires causing his calves to sweat. Miko, who was now running down the street opposite of him, waved a hand to get his attention.

"Five! Five!"

"What?" Five called back.

"Fetch!" Miko shouted, throwing the glove and goggles off to the right. Five, without hesitation, veered left, and baseball slid across the sandy blacktop towards his gear. The moped, meanwhile, continued its trajectory towards Miko, who dropped to one knee and pointed her gloved fist forward, aiming down her arm like a rifle's sights. There was still ground to cover, but the demon on wheels was gaining fast.

"Did you just tell me to fetch?" Five asked, now having donned his equipment.

"Shut up, I'm aiming," was Miko's only response. The moped was gaining.

"It's an electric scooter," Five said, "I think I saw a place where they rent them. It's got a digital engine lock."

"Shut _up,_ Five," Miko repeated.

"What are you even gonna-"

_ShEEEErrr!_

A blast of digital energy came spitting out of the front of Miko's gauntlet, which sported a small opening not unlike a cannon. The energy, which resembled fractured data, writhed and contorted as it came blasting out, and slowly took solid form. In this case, that form was a weighted net. The projectile flew threw the air and the moped drove into it like a fly into a spider's web. The knotted rope tangled itself into the wheels of the scooter, which started to screech and slide, before tumbling onto one side and skidding to a stop mere inches away from Miko. She gave Five a smug side-eye.

"Alright, that was good," Five said, and the two of them fist bumped. Five came in closer to inspect the incapacitated scooter. "Now, how do we get it to-"

Suddenly, _whoosh!_ The two Techs were knocked back by a sudden shock wave of electromagnetic force that exploded from the toppled moped. There was a crackling, electronic sound, and then an erratic ball of green energy pulled itself free from the confines of the scooter. The glitch they were looking for. The globule of neon energy hovered in placed, and seemed to stare at them, though it possessed no face. There were screams from a few people who had been watching from afar. Miko and Five looked to each other, and then nodded. They each pressed a button on the side of their technogloves.

But the glitch was too fast! As Miko went to aim her arm at it, the cloud of energy came shooting towards her, much to her surprise. She yelped and through her arms up in a reactionary defensive pose, and felt a strange, faint impact. Five watched at the cloud of green particles went flying straight into Miko's gauntlet. Then, as they watched, the screen of the gauntlet changed from its standard light blue to a sinister green color, like that of the energy ball.

"Wah! Get it out, get it out!" Miko said, waving her arm and shaking it as if trying to dislodge the glitch. It didn't seem to be doing much of anything.

Then, there was an ominous beep, and the cannon on the end of Miko's glove extended a few inches. The green screen that represented the glitch flashed mischievously, and there was another _shhEEEErr_ as the gauntlet once again fired out data. This time, instead of a net, a banana materialized, and went flying through the air before splatting onto the concrete. Then, the cannon went off again, this time shooting a pair of sneakers. Miko was slamming her fist over and over against the gauntlet, trying to regain control, and failing.

"Ah, would you quit that!?" She exclaimed, "Digistruction ain't cheap! That's gonna be my whole next - _argh-_ paycheck!"

"I got an idea!" Five shouted, grabbing Miko's other arm and pulling her along with him. "Follow me!"

The two of them dashed along the street, Miko's gauntlet still firing off random objects. At one point, a bowling ball came tumbling into existence and nearly took out a poor old man's chalupa stand. Five apologized, but kept running. Eventually, he led them to the fountain that Miko had past on her way into town. He pointed ahead, and turned to find, to his relief, that his partner seemed to understand. Despite having much shorter legs, the young woman pulled ahead. With some struggle, she pulled her hand free from the haywire glove, and with a grunt, heaved it into the clear fountain water. There was a jolt of electricity that danced across the surface of the water, and then the screen on the glove turned from green to black. Miko breathed a sigh of relief, and slid to the ground, her back against the fountain. Five came over to join her, showing her a small black device that he held. It looked somewhere between a USB drive and a Rubik's Cube.

"Mobile detention server," he said, turning the little piece of tech around in hand. "At least until we can upload it to the big one at base."

Miko nodded, and Five scanned the fountain to make sure he wouldn't get electrocuted. Once satisfied, his reached in and fished out his partner's glove. Then, quickly and precisely, he connected the detention server to the technological bits of the glove. Five bit his lip. There was a chance the water might screw it up. After watching and waiting, a small green light that Miko hadn't even noticed dinged on, and Five grinned. That meant it had worked.

"We got it?" Miko asked. Fivo nodded. "We got it? _YES!_ "

The two of them high five'd again, and before Miko could even suggest what they do next, Five's wrist com flashed. Incoming call from a contact called "Agent Phil". He showed the screen to his partner, who rolled her eyes, before tapping a button and opening up the comms.

"Hey boss," Five said.

"Did you secure the glitch?" Phil said, his gruff, no-nonsense voice coming through a speaker in Five's glove.

"Yep! We did a great job!" Miko said, choosing to ignore the lingering destruction in their wake. Five shook his head. Phil didn't seem to notice or care.

"Great. Wipe any bystanders and then I've got another mission for you. Don't worry, it's in the area, so you won't have to go too far," Phil's voice said.

"What's the mission?" Five asked.

"You're gonna rendezvous with another team of Glitch Techs. Apparently, they found something pretty weird. That's all I got for you. Think of it as a surprise. You like surprises, right kids?" Phil said.

"Phil, I'm 21, just tell me what the damn mission is," Miko said, grabbing Five's arm and pulling it down so she could speak into his mic.

"Sorry, it's like I said. That's all I got. Good luck."

And with that, Phil was gone. Miko crossed her arms and pouted, and Five gave her a pat on the back before pressing a number of buttons on the keypad his glove sported. He started making his way towards the crowd of onlookers, and the display on his glove now read: _Mind Wipe._

"Afternoon, ladies and gentlemen!" Five called out. "If I could just have all of your attention for a few seconds…"


	2. The Red Eye

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome to another chapter of XJ-9 and the Glitch Techs! I'm so excited to be continuing down the path of the Danger Watch story with you! As always, keep an eye out for easter eggs, and let me know what you think about the story in the Comments! Also, a Kudos or Bookmark really does mean a lot, so if you're feeling generous, I would appreciate one! Now, enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter 02: The Red Eye**

_New Mexico_

_Late Afternoon_

Miko groaned from her position behind Five on the rented motorcycle. The two of them were speeding down an empty road, nothing but sand and shrubbery on either side for miles. Miko was looking at something on her glove, a miserable expression on her face. Five gave a quick glance over his shoulder, and reached back to pat Miko's knee.

"Hey, why the long face?" He called back. The roar of the wind and the engine of the bike swallowed his voice, but luckily, his words came through Miko's ears due to their goggles containing built in comm extensions.

"Oh, I was just looking at my Hinobi account," Miko said glumly. The Hinobi account was where a Glitch Tech's company credit was measured. Things like completing missions and securing glitches would gain them points. Unauthorized digistruction, as well as use of the company credit card for nonessential functions, would cost them points. Miko slumped her head against Five's back and sighed. "I'm screwed Five."

"That bad?"

"Have you ever digistructed a bowling ball? How about a brand new pair of Jordan's? They're expensive as hell! Like, the shoes are the 300 dollars? I didn't even shoot that! The glitch did! And does Hinobi care? No!" Miko raged.

"Yikes," Five said, leaning slightly as the road curved for the first time in miles. "File a complaint."

"Yeah freaking right," Miko said, "and wait 3 weeks just for them to apologize for 'company policy' and then give me a free macchiato at the coffee shop in the lobby?"

"I mean, probably," Five said, "but really think about it. Would you rather live in a world with or without free coffee?"

Miko sighed again.

"Free coffee," she said.

"Me too," Five agreed.

Phil had sent the coordinates of their rendezvous to Five's glove, and they made good time. Due to Five's excellent driving, and Miko's excellent navigation, they arrived at their destination before nightfall. The pair of Glitch Techs hadn't even made it to the outskirts of town when they saw what the problem was. Five slowed the bike to a halt a half-mile out, and the pair of them looked up, their mouths half agape.

The sun was beginning to fall beneath the horizon line, which set the stage even further. In the sky above this small desert town, framed by a golden-orange halo of light refracted by the setting sun, was an enormous, red, eye. At least, at first glance, that's what Miko and Five thought it was. Five squinted at the levitating orb. It was much closer, but at this distance it looked bigger than the moon. Judging by the readout on his goggles, he calculated that this thing was a perfect sphere, with a diameter the length of 3 school buses.

"Holy crap!" Miko said, standing up on the back of the motorcycle and pointing up at the red eye. "What is that thing?"

"Something tells me that's the mission," Five said, turning around to look up at his partner. "Wanna get closer?"

"Phil said we were supposed to meet up with another team," Miko said, scanning the area. The entire town was bathed in the shadow of the colossal eye, so it was hard to see anybody from this distance. Miko plopped back down into the seat. "I wonder where they-"

_shhEEEEEErr!_ Miko was cut off by the loudest digistruction she had ever heard. There was a flash of light near the heart of the city, and then she and Five saw a projectile come shooting up towards the red eye. It was some kind of military grade missile, and as the two Techs looked on, it came spiraling towards its target. The missile collided dead on with the red eye, resulting in a large explosion. Fire and small chunks of debris rained down onto the town.

"Drive!" Miko shouted, leaning forward and patting Five on the shoulder urgently. "Gogogo!"

Five needed no further encouragement, and with the sound of screeching tires, they shot the last half mile towards town. As they flew into the outskirts, they drove much faster than was normally legal, which almost surprised Miko. Five was usually the last one to break the rules. It seemed that, when there was enough at stake, even he was willing to let loose a bit. Miko grinned. Between her and her partner, there was nothing they couldn't stop.

As Five came drifting to a stop in the middle of the town square, he and his partner made eye contact with two people in matching uniforms to their own, with decked out goggles and gloves to boot. One of them was a pretty woman, about Miko's age, who wore a simple, elegant hijab and had a beauty mark beneath her eye. The other agent was a dark-skinned man, older than Five, with dry-looking skin and black hair greased back. The man crossed his arms as Five and Miko arrived.

"Great," he said, "here's the 'backup' Phil was talking about."

"Thank goodness," his partner said in a much more welcoming tone. She walked up to the two of them and shook their hands. "Hey. I'm Agent "Cloud". This is Agent "Youngblood". It's good to see some extra help. We can't seem to do much at all to that thing."

Miko and Five introduced themselves.

"What do you mean? You just blasted the hugest missile _ever_ at that thing! We just came to make sure nobody got hurt by debris," Miko said.

Five tapped her on the shoulder, and guided her eyes towards the sky, which was fast becoming purple at the edges of its brilliant orange. Despite the impact of the missile, the red eye was unscathed. Not a mark on it.

"No way," Miko said.

"Where are all the citizens?" Five asked.

"We ran through and made sure everyone was sheltering in their homes," Cloud said with a sigh. "It's the best we've got for now. We're just lucky its such a small town. Trying to keep this detained somewhere populated would be a nightmare."

"Which makes you wonder why it's here at all," Youngblood chimed in. Five nodded.

"What has it been doing so far?" He asked. Youngblood pinched the bridge of his nose, and Cloud shook her head.

"Nothing. It floated down from orbit around 3 or 4 o'clock this morning, and it's just been… staring, if you can call it that. It moved once, around lunch time. It started out in the middle of the desert, but as soon as it made it over this town it stopped again. Hasn't move since," she said.

"That's so weird," Miko said, "do you think it's aliens?"

"Whatever it is, it's definitely unregistered surveillance tech. We had HQ run some searches and nothing on this thing seems to match up with anything on file around the globe," Youngblood said.

Suddenly, an earsplitting drone began to emit from the red eye. A horrible, vibrating frequency that set the Glitch Techs' teeth to chatter and their spines to shaking. Miko clutched her hands over her ears, and the others followed suit. Cloud, proactively, used her gauntlet to produce 4 sets of headphones, and Miko and Five were pleasantly surprised to find that they blocked out the sound of the red eye while maintaining their connection through comms.

This was a piece of tech that Miko hadn't earned on her Hinobi Account yet, and thus could not access. Her catalog was limited to simple things, for now, like bowling balls and bananas. One day, when she worked her way up, she'd even be able to summon a digistructed being with an artificial intelligence. Usually called "companion pets" because of their limited intellectual capacity, these digistructed creatures often served as temporary mounts or allies for high ranking Glitch Techs, though they were particularly expensive to use, especially for long periods of time. Nonetheless, Miko dreamed of the day she could ride one. Her dream mount was a customized Chocobo from the _Final Fantasy_ series.

"What is _that?_ " Five asked, his voice isolated in each of their heads.

"That is new," Youngblood said.

"It's giving off some kind of complex radio wave!" Cloud said, her eyes flying across the readings on her glove. "It's… super weird though. It doesn't look like anything I've ever seen. I don't even know how I'm picking up the reading."

"Uh, guys," Miko said, "it's like, _really_ starting to sound like aliens now."

"Whoever it belongs to, I bet you they're getting a pretty good look at us right now," Youngblood said. "Think the eye has a camera in it?"

"If it does, what's the point of the radio waves?" Cloud asked.

"Audio, duh," Youngblood said, "or maybe, it can't transport the video data at such a long distance the way it is, so they-"

"Convert it into sound and then launch it back home through space!" Five chimed in. "That would explain your weird readings, Cloud, your gauntlet thinks it's picking up audio, but in reality, it's video footage turned into sound."

"Ok. So, it's sending surveillance footage of… what? Us? This town?" Miko asked, looking around. "Not sure if you realize, but we are in literally the middle of nowhere. What's so important about this dinky old place?"

_Ka-BLAMF!_ A rooftop on the far end of town suddenly exploded, and a beam of white-blue light came blasting out, like a shining spear towards the heavens. Then, the beam changed trajectory, taking on more the appearance of a white-blue comet, rocketing across the setting sky and towards the red eye. The Glitch Techs watched, in awe, as the comet came hurtling towards the red eye, which slowly rotated in space to turn its enormous ocular region on the incoming threat. To Miko, it's eye almost seemed to widen for a moment.

Then, it was over. The sound was so high pitched, so piercing, that they weren't even able to hear it beyond their protective headphones. One moment, the red eye floated above them, and the next, the white-blue comet had shot right through it, like a bullet through a soda can. There was a small hole, directly in the center of its eye, and then a larger, plumed exit where the beam had came shooting out the other side. Smoke and sparks came billowing out of both, and everyone's hearts jumped into their throats as the enormous, red orb began to slowly sink towards the buildings below.

The Glitch Techs sprang into action, dashing towards where they assumed the red eye was going to crash, each of them desperately trying to think of some strategy that would stop this falling ball of destruction. Luckily for them, they had no need to come up with one, as the shining light came back around for another pass. This time, as it was coming towards them, Five was able to get a passing glance at what was inside of the brilliant white-blue glow. He was shocked.

She almost looked like a person, barring that she was clearly made of metal and fashioned to appear that way. She had plates painted white and a faint, periwinkle blue, as well as two odd antennae that resembled a schoolgirl's pigtails. She had overly large, determined, black eyes with no irises, and her face was frozen in a look of concentration and total confidence. Blue flame flared from her boot-like feet, and produced the blinding light that surrounded her.

As Five watched, the flying robot pulled up just short of smashing through the red eye again, this time delivering a mid-air kick, like an athlete would a soccer ball. To Five's surprise, there was enough strength behind the kick to abruptly correct the red eye's course, sending it moving much faster laterally, before finally crashing with a resounding vibration into the barren sands outside of town. The robot and her ball of light lingered in the air for a moment longer, and Five could have sworn he saw her look down at their little group before shooting off in the blink of an eye. She was so bright that when she vanished, Five's vision was obscured, and once he had regained it, she was gone.

Silence hung in the air, and the four Glitch Tech's weren't sure what to do or say. They were all still processing what they had just witnessed. After several stunned moments, it was Cloud who finally spoke up first.

"I'm gonna put this through to HQ," she said. "They'll probably send an extraction team for the wreckage, and maybe some Techs to help us with the wipe… Something tells me clean up on this one will be long."

The rest of the group agreed, and as Cloud stepped aside to report in, Five came over to Miko. Youngblood squinted at them as Five took his partner aside, but said nothing. He couldn't be bothered, it seemed.

"I think I saw what that thing just now was," Five said.

"No way," Miko said excitedly, and also loudly. Five looked nervously over his shoulder.

"I think it was a robot," Five said, this time quietly, hoping that his partner would get it.

" _A ROBOT?_ "


	3. The First Domino

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome back to another chapter! So far, my favorite thing about writing this story has to be either the dynamic between Five and Miko (who I adore) or the subtle lore bombs that have snuck their way into this one. Let me know what your favorite part has been so far in the Comments!_

_Oh, and keep your eyes peeled: this book will kick off some huge events planned for the future of Danger Watch!_

* * *

**Chapter 03: The First Domino**

_New Mexico_

_Night_

"Yes, a robot," Five said, clamping a hand over Miko's mouth, "but stay quiet about it. I don't know for sure, and if sci-fi movies have taught me anything, it's that we should always talk to the robot before handing it over to the feds."

"Right!" Miko tried to say, though it came out more like "rmmf!" because of Five's hand blocking her face. He moved his hand so she could speak, and when she did, she donned a deep, theatrical voice, as if she were in a noir film. "Classic movie stuff. The robot's got a secret mission, and knows some bad stuff about the people we work for. Now, we can't trust anybody except you, me, and the 'bot."

Five rolled his eyes, and looked over to the other two Glitch Techs they had been assigned to work with. Youngblood was trying to pretend like he hadn't been attempting to eavesdrop on Miko and Five's conversation, and Cloud was still talking to the people at Hinobi HQ. She gave several "Yes, sir"'s, as well as a handful of "absolutely sir"'s, and then finally, the call was ended, and she returned to the group.

"HQ says we should do a routine sweep, wipe anybody who was a witness, and then standby until their emergency team can come in," she said.

"How long?" Youngblood asked.

"Two, maybe three hours," Cloud said. Her partner whistled.

"Just to get a chopper out here?" He said.

"We _are_ in the middle of the desert," Cloud rebutted.

"Yeah, but there's that ocean base just north of here," Youngblood said, "the new one, on that island off the coast."

"Maybe this emergency team is bigger than we're expecting," Five said, he and Miko now rejoining the conversation. "It's kind of a huge mess, right?"

"Whatever the case, we should start our sweep so that we can have everything finished before they get here," Cloud said, trying to keep them on task. "You guys can take the northern half of town, and Youngblood and I will go south. Sound good?"

They all agreed, and the two sets of partners split off to cover more ground. For the next two hours or so, they went door to door, asking a standard set of questions about the events of the night. If it seemed like the civilians were unaware of the red eye, or the strange comet, then all the Techs needed to do was wipe their memory of this most recent conversation. If the initial interview revealed that the civilian was in fact a witness to the operation, then the mind wipe would have to go a bit further back, to before the red eye had shown up. Luckily, Cloud had sent that timestamp to each of their gloves, so that the townsfolk's gaps in memory would be the same. Hopefully that way, they reasoned, they could avoid some of them deducing what had happened on their own.

As they continued the sweep, Miko and Five came across a house that caught their attention. It was somewhat isolated from the other residences on the block by a black metal fence, and the lawn inside was barren and sandy, with a simple stone pathway leading up to the gothic double doors. From there, the building exploded into something straight out of a Tim Burton movie, with dark, ornate architecture and a foreboding quartet of gargoyles mounted in a square around the roof. A single, round window marked the attic, and it seemed to have been broken out, and covered by wooden boards. _Somewhat recently, too,_ Five thought, as he squinted at the newly placed wood.

"Well, this place is cheery," Miko said, giving a sly grin to her partner. "Would you like to go first, then?"

"I mean, not really," Five said, walking forward anyway, "but you got the last one."

"Plus you got to drive the motorcycle," Miko said, tagging along after him.

"Fair point," Five agreed with a sigh, as he walked up to the eery doors and used one of the large metal rings to knock on it. The resulting sound was loud, hollow, and as foreboding as possible.

Five looked to Miko, who had a big dumb grin on her face. Miko loved adrenaline. Skydiving, roller-coasters, anything that got her blood pumping was fun in her book. Haunted houses and horror movies were no exception. Not to mention the immense satisfaction she felt at her normally level-headed partner's brief moments of weakness. Miko wasn't even sure Five had _been_ on a roller coaster before, and she definitely had never seen him enter a haunted house. The two of them waited in anticipation, but to Five's relief and Miko's dismay, no terrifying stranger opened the door. No hooks hands or eye-patches in sight. Five knocked again, and they waited with baited breath. Once again, nobody came to the door.

"Nobody's home?" Five suggested.

"Five. Look at this place. Somebody is definitely home, just waiting for you to _think_ that nobody's home, so they can jump out and get you!" Miko said. Five gulped.

"Listen, I think it seems pretty quiet, maybe we should just finish the block." He started to say. Miko, ignoring his protests, tried the aging brass doorknob. Not surprisingly, both doors were locked, and refused to budge. The Glitch Tech blew a strand of purple-streaked hair out of her face.

"Maybe there's a back way…" She said, crossing her arms and making a thoughtful face.

"Miko, you're not thinking of breaking into this creepy mansion are you?" Five hissed, suddenly dropping his voice to a lower volume. His partner scoffed at him.

"Uh, kinda yeah," she said at a normal volume. "We gotta make sure we don't leave anybody un-wiped. Do you wanna get fired?"

"No, but-"

"So, you wanna lose all your Hinobi points?"

"No! I almost unlocked those super cool jet boots," Five said, the second part added almost as an afterthought to himself.

"Ok, so, what I'm hearing is 'let's do it Miko!' Does that sound about right?" Miko asked, popping her hip to one side. Five gave a sigh of defeat, his call of duty outweighing his sense of imminent danger.

"Fine, but we are In and out, _just_ to make sure we aren't missing anybody," Five said.

Miko pumped a fist in the air and did a small, silent dance before scampering around to the side of the house. Five quickly followed, and the two of them began to scour the area for any sort of back entrances. They were in luck, and before long Five pointed out what seemed to be a set of storm doors to the basement of the house. Two large doors, diagonal to the ground, that would presumably lead to a set of stairs. Beside them, discarded on the ground, was a large, rusty padlock. The two Glitch Techs crept towards these doors, and Miko immediately reached forward to try and pull them back.

_CrEEEEEEEk!_ The rusty metal doors squealed ear-splitting agony into the night, and the sound made Five and Miko jump. While the hinges were in need of oil, the doors swung open. _Though,_ thought Five, _if anybody is down there, they definitely know we're coming._

"What's the plan?" Miko whispered, her lips a hair's breadth from Five's ear, leaving a faint tickle as she spoke. Five had to hold in a slight laugh, which he found strenuous.

"We go in, see if anybody is awake, wipe them. If not, we get out. Done and done," Five whispered back.

The two of them fist bumped silently, and then Five led the way down the dusty concrete stairs. Something had disrupted the dust there recently, but unfortunately, Five's nerves got the better of him on the way down, and he failed to notice that minute detail. As they reached the bottom of the steps, their shoes met stone basement floor. It was pitch black, the only light coming from the moonlit sky behind them. Miko pressed a button on her glove, and a wide beam of dull, white light was cast across the basement.

It was indeed a basement, and for the most part, a normal one at that. The floor space was mostly inhabited by large, cardboard boxes, or otherwise things that were ambiguous in shape, due to being covered by moth-eaten sheets and dusty tarps. The place smelled like oil and machinery, and was an uncomfortably cold temperature, harshly contrasting the hot desert air they had been travelling in earlier that day. Five went over to one of the larger boxes, and pulled open the lid slightly, taking a look inside. It was full of nuts and bolts, loose metal plates and gears. Five checked another box. It was full of computer parts, loose wires, and other electronic pieces. Five furrowed his brow. He shouldn't be snooping through other people's things.

"Hey, Five," Miko called from another part of the basement, "you… you probably wanna see this."

Something in Miko's voice made Five rush to her side, shoving past boxes and through the inky darkness to where she was, her flashlight shining forward. Coming up on her right, Five saw his partner's eyes were laser focused on whatever it was she was illuminating, and followed her gaze until his mouth fell wide open. His heart stopped for a moment.

Miko had pulled back one of the tarps, which was now on the floor. Beneath it, to both of their gut-wrenching astonishment, was a robot. While it was not a carbon copy of the one that Five had described earlier, it did bear resemblances. Most notably, the humanoid features, and the white and blue color scheme. That was where the similarities ended, though, as this robot was much larger than what Five had estimated his to be, and was decidedly masculine in its features. Almost overly so, with its enormously fashioned arms and broad, bulky chaise. It also seemed, to Five, much older in make than the one he had seen before. Still, the robot's very existence was cause enough for alarm, and just as the two Glitch Tech's began to worry about what else they might find, there was a whining sound that started low and rapidly began to climb in pitch.

Whirling around, the two Glitch Techs found themselves staring down another person. A woman, older than them, and in between their heights. She had thick, graying blond hair in a pompadour-esque haircut, and was clad in a long, golden coat with round, reflective goggles. While she herself was already a strange and intimidating person, the weapon she held in her hands put her to shame. Somewhere between a dentist's tool and a high-grade sub-machine gun, and simply covered in blinking lights, the only way Five could tell it was a weapon was because of the way the woman threatened them with the business end.

"Who are you? FBI? Skyway Patrol?" The woman asked in a raspy alto.

"Listen, ma'am, if you could just look right-" Five began to say, lifting his hand to point it, palm-first at her.

"Put that thing away. " the mysterious woman said, brandishing the weapon. Five quickly stowed his hand. "I recognize a wipe lens when I see one, kid. I helped invent them, for goodness sake. There's not a brain scrubber strong enough to get through these goggles, so you might as well start talking. Who the hell are you, and what are you doing on my property?"

Five and Miko looked to each other frantically. The latter looked like wanted to spring into action, but her partner was not nearly as on board with that plan as she was. His eyes pleaded for them to flee while they still could. Miko rolled her eyes, and jerked her head in the direction of the goggled woman. Five's eyes widened and he shook his head. Miko was insisting.

"Wrong answer," the woman said. There were two quick bursts of sound, and before Miko and Five could react, the weapon in her hands shot two strange, glowing globules of blue slime at each of them. They splattered on impact, tagging both of them with bright, bio-luminescent goo.

"Eugh, what is this stuff?" Miko asked, trying to wipe some off and only spreading it to her glove.

"A synthetic algae loaded with microbots that are outfitted with GPS technology," the woman said, "I imagine you would just call it "tracker gel". Now, XJ-9! Intruder mode!"

From behind Miko and Five, two bright, red lights turned on. They honed in on the two Glitch Tech's backs, and slowly drew closer. These lights, they would both soon realize, were the eyes of a robot. Not just any robot either.

The robot that had destroyed the red eye.


	4. XJ-9 vs. The Glitch Techs

**Author's Note:** _Hi again. I'm sorry to say that I've lost a friend recently. I don't want to go into the specifics, but my heart is in anguish and I may upload slowly for a little while. Sorry for those of you keeping up with the story, but I am just hurting right now. Thank you for understanding. Enjoy the chapter._

* * *

**Chapter 04: XJ-9 vs. The Glitch Techs**

_New Mexico_

_Late Night_

"Five, look out!" Miko cried.

Five turned around and spotted two red lights shining on him through the poorly lit, dusty basement of the mad woman's house. He squinted against their brightness, and his goggles even adjusted to provide some light protection, but before he could get a good look at what the source of the two piercing LED's was, it started moving towards him. Fast.

Five couldn't even react. He was only human. This thing moved too fast, placed its steps too perfectly. It was within a foot of him in a second, and with a perfect rotation of its torso, the robot delivered a powerful kick to Five's abdomen, sending him flying into a pile of boxes. He was buried in a mountain of tech junk, and the robot then turned to Miko, who nervously put her glove out, cannon protruded.

"Listen, we aren't here to fight, we just-" She started to say. However, despite her jarringly human facial sculpt, the robot did not seem to display any sort of emotional processing of her words, and moved forward with the single-minded drive of an automaton. The robot brought down one hand as if to grab Miko's head in her palm, which _was_ something she might be able to accomplish. Miko, who was only a bit over 5 feet tall, was minuscule in comparison to the robot girl, who easily graced 6 feet with some inches to spare.

Miko was too fast, however, and saw the robot's widespread hand coming down on her. She ducked and scampered back, and then held out her glove to one side. _shhEEEErr!_ Something digistructed into Miko's palm, but she kept it hidden behind her thigh as she held the opposite hand out defensively towards her opponent. The robot, which the woman had called "XJ-9", cocked her head to one side, and her gaze seemed to fixate on Miko. Seemingly, she hadn't expected the Glitch Tech to dodge her so easily, and was now reassessing the situation. Miko figured this was her chance.

With a small grunt of exertion, she flung the three small orbs she had digistructed towards the XJ-9. They flew through the air, each clanging once against the robots armored exterior before releasing a brief, blue flash. There was a subsonic pulse as each EMP exploded, and for a second, it seemed to disrupt the XJ-9. She dropped to a rough kneel, clutching her head and closing her eyes. Miko wondered, for a moment, how that was possible. Did she have synthetic eyelids? Who went through the trouble of programming a blinking function? Miko's gaze moved from the malfunctioning robot to her apparent controller, the woman with the goo gun.

She had stopped observing the conflict between Miko and the XJ-9, instead going over to investigate what had become of Five. She approached the pile of boxes, aiming her weapon, which continued its high-pitched droning. So far, Miko's partner still hadn't stirred. It was clear from the brief display of her powers earlier that the robot had held back when she struck Five, but Miko couldn't help but wonder just how much. Five was a young adult man, and not exactly short, and the XJ-9 had sent him flying like a rag doll.

"Mom!"

The voice, to Miko's surprise, came out of the XJ-9 itself. It was a young, feminine voice, that sounded vaguely warped Whether that was because it was coming out of a robot or because of the EMP, Miko wasn't sure. However, there was clearly pain in that voice, which made Miko's heart sink. The goggled woman stopped in her tracks, and turned on her heel to look back at Miko and the robot. She knit her brows and aimed the weapon at Miko. It started to make a different, more volatile noise. That wasn't good. The sound built, and a faint light began to grow in the weapon.

Then, just as it seemed the gun was about to go off, there was the sound of slamming metal doors, and booted footsteps. Then, _shHHEEEErr!_ Suddenly, a harpoon came flying out of the darkness and knocking the weapon from it's wielder's hands; but not before the goggled woman got one shot off. A bolt of reddish gold energy came shooting out of the weapon's tip, which collided with the ground between Miko and the XJ-9. There was a small explosion, and both were knocked backwards, though Miko flew much further than her counterpart.

"Stop where you are!" Came a familiar voice. Miko shook the ringing from her ears and followed the sound, blearily spotting Youngblood and Cloud. It was the former who had spoken, and the latter who had shot the harpoon. They now stood at the stairwell, gloves aimed at the XJ-9 and her keeper.

Unfortunately for the Glitch Techs, the XJ-9 had recovered by that point. The humanoid robot gave a small hop, and with burst of bright blue boot flame, she propelled herself across the room, putting herself between her keeper and new arrivals. Cloud grimaced. From her vantage point on the stairs, she could see Miko, still pulling herself to her feet. There was no sign of Five, but she did spot the pile of toppled boxes.

"We're not gonna ask again lady, stand down," Cloud said, with some assertion in her town.

"Mom?" The robot said, repeating the word from earlier.

"It calls you mom?" Miko asked from the other end of the room.

"Who do you work for?" The mad scientist asked, looking at Cloud over the XJ-9's shoulder. The Glitch Tech kept her glove cannon level with the both of them as she answered.

"Ma'am, we're with Hinobi Technologies Department of Digital Construction Research and Applications," Cloud said, "subsidiary branch of the Hinobi Tech. private task force."

"Hinobi?" The woman repeated, a hint of familiarity and venom on her tongue.

"Yes, and we've got about a hundred other guys from HQ who just rolled into town with shiny trucks and equipment. So, if you insist on doing this the hard way, I'm sure they'd be happy to oblige," Youngblood pitched in with a sneer.

"That won't be enough."

To everyone's surprise, that had come from the unmistakable, mechanical voice of the XJ-9. The woman she was protecting shook her head, laying a hand on the metal shoulder of the XJ-9. The robot shifted reluctantly, allowing the goggled woman to step in front of her.

"Even if I were to believe that Hinobi had the funding for a task force that size," she started, "that corp deals with video games… entertainment and convenience technologies. What the hell are you doing investigating an alien probe?"

"Classified," Cloud said simply. The goggled woman gave something between a scoff and a laugh.

"Oh, of course, why did I even ask," she said scornfully. "Damn corporate bookkeeping, suit-and-tie, secret keepers…"

By now, Miko had made her way across the room and helped her partner to his feet. Apparently, the XJ-9 had not taken it easy on him, and Miko lifted parted of Five's uniform to reveal a deep, discolored bruise running up the entirety of his side. She winced, and let him lean on her, muttering quiet assurances to him as he groaned in pain. The two of them stood off to the side, and while the woman continued to stare down the two by the exit, the XJ-9 turned its gaze on Miko and her partner. Her eyes no longer glowed red, but were instead a glossy black, with no iris, and uncomfortably human.

"Why does it call you mom?" Miko asked, unable to contain her question any longer.

"It?" The XJ-9 repeated.

"Not another word, XJ-9," the robot's keeper said curtly. The XJ-9 compliantly fell silent.

"I'm going to insist you come with us, ma'am," Cloud said from the stairs, "somebody in charge wants to talk to you."

The woman snorted.

"'Insist,' yeesh. Can't cut the front dest facade for two seconds, can you? They really program it deep, these days... " She said snarkily. "Fine. Show me to your boss. XJ-9, sentry mode."

The robot's body, which had been tense and ready for combat, suddenly became much more at ease, and her expression even seemed to soften. Miko and Five exchanged a nervous glance before looking to Cloud and Youngblood. It seemed like they had the situation under control, but they couldn't be too certain with this strange pair they had picked up. Five was able to stand on his own by then, but still clutched his side, and the troupe slowly left the basement. Cloud and Youngblood backtracked, and Miko and Five took up the rear, corralling the XJ-9 and her keeper, much to the goggled woman's salty amusement.

As they made it outside, they were greeted by the starry night sky. The air was warm and dry, and faintly laced with the sounds of engines, chatter, and boot steps. As Cloud had stated, there was now a host of people, all clad in Hinobi Tech uniform, swarming the wreckage of the red eye. There was a handful of trucks, and several floodlights and tents had been set up, making the place look like a some kind of temporary military base. The Glitch Tech's escorted their two 'captives' to the sight, and were soon flagged down and stopped by a trio of people. Two of them wore masks that obscured their faces, like many of the others closer to the wreckage.

The third person was an older man, closer to the scientist's age, with graying brown hair and thick creases throughout his face. He was dressed in an officer's uniform, which consisted of a white suit and sunglasses combo, with a Hinobi Tech pin on his lapel. He also sported a gauntlet and a set of Glitch Tech glasses. As he came closer, recognition crossed both his face and that of the captive scientist. She shook her head, and the officer's face split into a wide smile.

"Wakeman," he said, "as I live and breathe."

"Phil friggin' Billings," she said. "What the hell is this? You're corporate now?"

"Now Nora, let me explain," the officer, apparently Phil, started to say.

"You damn well better," the scientist, Nora Wakeman, said.

"Can we not do this here?" Phil said, chuckling nervously and tipping his head at his subordinates. Wakeman glanced at the quartet of Glitch Techs, "There's a lot to catch up on, and most of it is for… sensitive ears only."

"Fine," Wakeman said. Phil clapped his hands together and smiled wider.

"Perfect," he said, turning to Cloud and company. "Thank you for your excellent work, Glitch Techs. Go report to the command tent and you'll be given an assignment."

The four Techs saluted, and then filed off to the command tent, which stood out as the largest of the tents that had been set up around the red eye. As they left, Miko gave one glance over he shoulder, and made eye contact with the XJ-9. The robot tilted her head as she watched her go, and then Miko was gone. The XJ-9 returned her attention to Wakeman.

"Lead the way," the scientist said. Phil did so, and both Wakeman and her ward began to follow. The officer led them to smaller tent on top of a sand dune, out of the way of the rest of the camp. As they went, Phil cast a couple looks back.

"Does the robot have to come?" Phil asked.

"XJ-9 is not just any robot, Phil," Wakeman said. "I've really done something with this one."

"I can tell…" Phil said, his tone of voice unclear. "Can she at least stand outside the tent?"

"Fine. XJ-9, you stay out here and stand guard. I will return," Wakeman said, adding the second part and addressing it to the robot, who nodded her agreement. With a sign, Wakeman looked to the blazing wreckage of the red eye, and then stooped into the tent. The inside was spacious and well lit, and at the center of the tent was a desk with a comfortable looking chair on either side. Phil took the chair on the far end, and Wakeman took the other.

"Alright, Nora," the officer said, steepling his fingers and leaning forward. "Let's get down to brass tacks."


	5. Brass Tacks

**Author's Note:** Hey again, welcome back to another chapter. If youve been keeping up since Jake Long, then things might be starting to fall into place for you... or maybe not. Let me know what you think of the story so far, and who your favorite character is! As always a Kudos/Comment means the world! And be sure to bookmark if you want to keep up with the developing Universe! Now, enjoy the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 05: Brass Tacks**

_New Mexico_

_Night_

"So when did you decide to put on the penguin suit?" Wakeman asked. Phil shook his head with a wry smile.

"A lot of us got jobs at Hinobi, Nora. Back in the day, after everything hit the fan... " He glanced up. "You know, when Jack and Vlad-"

"I was there, Phil," Wakeman interrupted.

"That's right, you were, weren't you? It's hard to remember what order everybody left in. It all happened so long ago, it seems…" Phil said. "Anyway, after Skyway disbanded, there were a lot of openings at Hinobi. Similar job opportunities, decent pay; a lot of us jumped on the boat. You'd be surprised at how similar the two operations are by now."

"I doubt it."

"Why's that?"

"Well, you're forgetting a big, key difference. The Plumbers were funded by the Pentagon. We had rules. Morales. We were held to code," Wakeman said. "There's a difference between a government backed organization and a corporate one."

"Is there?" Phil asked, spreading his hands wide at the table. "Is there really? The way I see it, it's all just a lot of _this._ People like you and me having private conversations in back rooms, and then deciding how the world gets run. Hardly ever even showing our faces. Am I wrong?"

Wakeman scowled silently, and Phil gave her a grin that he knew he shouldn't show, but did anyway. Something about the way his lip twitched. He reached into a drawer and produced a tablet, which he set on the desk and lid towards Wakeman. She picked it up, and it blinked on, and Phil saw the documents scrolling by in her goggles at breakneck speeds.

"It would be good to have you back, Wakeman," Phil said, as she continued to read. "We are up to our ears in weird. The strange energy signature a few weeks ago, this probe coming down from out of nowhere, and do you remember Tennyson's theory about the monsters in New York?"

"Don't tell me," Wakeman said, as she came across an article. At the top was a fuzzy picture of some kind of serpent, with deep purple scales and what appeared to be wisps of cloud surrounding it. It was gliding through the night sky.

"Apparently, the city is crawling with things like that; and it doesn't seem limited to just the Big Apple, either," Phil said. "Paris, Shanghai, and even Sydney have reported some activity."

"What do you plan to do about that?"

"Nothing."

" _Nothing?_ "

"It's not our jurisdiction. Our intel reports that the creatures have some sort of defacto leader among them that they defer to, and who keeps them in check," Phil said.

"Like an alpha," Wakeman suggested.

"Or a shepherd," Phil rebutted.

"Ok, so it's not the 70's anymore and weird stuff is still happening, what a shock. What do you want from _me,_ Phil? I'm not joining your rewards program," the scientist said, her voice twinged with annoyance. Phil clasped his hands together and looked her dead in the eyes, goggles to glasses.

"We need your mind, Wakeman," he said. "Frankly, there's nobody quite like you. Even if we did go after Vlad or Drake or any of the other egg heads from Skyway, none of them have what _you_ have… I mean. Just look at what you've created."

Wakeman's demeanor immediately shifted at the mention of the XJ-9. Phil remained stationary and calm, but Wakeman squinted at him beneath her reflective lenses.

"So it's my work you want?" She said defensively.

"Not to keep, Nora, not even to borrow…" Phil said reassuringly. "Let's not beat around the bush anymore. I want to know more about that new robot of yours."

* * *

The XJ-9 stood diligently outside of the tent, her head on a slow swivel. She was a sentry, her vision unfettered by such things as a lack of light particles, her optical receptors more than capable of relaying the scene around her with what few were dispersed by the moon, stars, and Hinobi Tech floodlights. The robot girl squinted as she looked down at the crash site. So many little humans, running around the spaceship she had smashed at the behest of her mother. She watched them work, like ants on an anthill, before something caught her eye.

A duo of humans emerged from one of the tents, and the XJ-9's mechanical twintails twitched involuntarily as she lilted her head in curiosity. She recognized these humans. One was as tall as the XJ-9 was, but more slender, with warm, brown skin and a purposeful demeanor. His partner was shorter and stockier, particularly from the waist down, with a more pale skin tone, dark eyes, and straight, black hair that was streaked with purple. They were the two Glitch Techs who had first broken into her mother's basement.

Though at first she tried to look away, to continue her dutiful watch of the perimeter, the XJ-9 found that she couldn't take her eyes off of them. They could't see her, but with her powerful robotic optics, she could see them perfectly. They were both doing that thing she often saw her mother do: ea-ting. They were putting some kind of brown block into their mouths and 'chewing', which the XJ-9 was quite proud to know meant the act of crushing food in one's mouth. It was part of a small research project she had been doing. Since her mother was human, XJ-9 had taken it upon herself to learn all that such a thing entailed, in order to simulate it. This included knowing about 'chewing.'

When they had finished ea-ting, the taller Glitch Tech stretched, which meant he was tired, and the two of them began to talk. Subconsciously, the XJ-9 swiveled her twintails, and they shifted to reveal subtle, mechanical receivers. With a bit of focus, the robot activated her long-distance audio receptors, and was suddenly able to hear everything they were saying below.

" _\- am beat,_ " said the taller Glitch Tech, his voice slightly altered by the amplification of the sound waves. " _It's been a long trip._ "

" _Aren't you glad we took the New Mexico job?_ " The shorter Glitch Tech said. " _This beats sitting at some storefront cover all day._ "

" _I don't actually mind storefront duty,_ " her partner replied, " _I get to talk video games with all the customers, and see all the new tech before it rolls out._ "

There was a statick-y sound. Laughter. The XJ-9, too, laughed. Humor was something she understood, though she didn't always get the less clear jokes. Sarcasm in particular was one joke she still didn't quite get.

" _You're such a nerd, Five,_ " The purple-haired Glitch Tech said.

"Five…" The XJ-9 muttered to herself.

" _As if you aren't. Who had the best Mortal Kombat score in their dorm for 3 years?_ " Five said. " _Oh, that's right. Miko did!_ "

"Miko…"

" _I don't think that makes me a nerd, though. I'm pretty sure that makes me super cool and better than you at video games,"_ Miko said.

Five laughed, and the XJ-9 laughed along with him. For a brief moment, it was like she was sitting next to them, sharing what they were doing. What they were having. A conversation. The moment passed as quickly as it came on, however, and as soon as the XJ-9 realized that it was staring idly at the two resting Glitch Techs, she snapped herself back into attention, straightened up, and returned to her guard duty of the tent. However, she kept one twintail turned towards the two humans, _just_ in case she overheard something interesting.

* * *

"She's not for sale if that's what you're asking," Wakeman said.

"No, of course not," Phil said, "I can tell you have a special kind of attachment to it. Why is that?"

"Don't try that bullshit on me, Phil. I can see what you're doing. The XJ-9 is none of your concern. Any business that you and I conduct has nothing to do with her."

"You keep calling it her… This isn't just some security droid, is it?" Phil said, a glint of avarice in his eyes. "You've finally done it, haven't you?"

"I don't know what you could mean, be reasonab-"

"Oh, come on, Nora. We used to work together. You never shut up about your fancy little 'XJ units.' You always believed in your bots," Phil said. Wakeman caught herself at a fault, and the officer opposite her rushed in at the weakness. "You told us you'd be the first person to crack the secret. You'd figure out how to make 'em think like us. 'A.I.' you always said. It was always about improving the A.I."

There was silence in the tent. Wakeman's eyes, concealed by her goggles, were darting frantically across Phil's face, trying to look for malice. Ill will. Greed, even. She found none. There was something in her old friend's eyes that seemed warm, sincere, inviting… And that was odd. The Phil Billings that Wakeman remembered was shrewd, mistrusting, and hardly ever sincere. Still, people could change; that was one of the things she hated most about them, and why she preferred robots for company. The scientist gave a heavy sigh, uncrossing her arms and leaning forward on the desk.

"The 9th model proved to be… something of an accidental leap in progress," she said. "While I was in the middle of programming her personality matrix and installing her basic response patterns, there was a… well, to use word you seem to be fond of: a glitch."

"What kind of glitch?" Phil inquired.

"If I knew what kind of glitch it was, don't you think I would have told you?" Wakeman snorted. "It was alien, that much I can tell you. Nothing from out sector, either."

"Do you think it was connected to the eye drone? Or the recent energy spike?" Phil prodded.

" _I don't know_ , Phil," Wakeman said, with a frustrated twinge to her voice. "It was… flashing lights. Symbols I couldn't read. Odd, warped sounds that were coming out of the XJ-9's voice modulator… And then it was gone, and the rest of her coding had been completed for me."

"You never looked into it further?" Phil asked.

"Unlike you, I don't look gift horses in the mouth," Wakeman said in response. Phil's mouth clamped shut at that, and he leaned back in his seat, which he had been on the edge of.

"So then what?" He said.

"She… evolved. I found that she could handle all of the basics I programmed her with, and could pick up and learn new tasks without me even having to touch the keyboard. Complete verbal and cognitive translation. You could teach her to play basketball if you wanted to," Wakeman said, getting more and more excited as she described the robot. Phil's eyebrows raised.

"Really? You can teach her things and she just… does them?"

"Like a teenager," Wakeman said. She then look to the side, a deep weariness showing in her expression, and if her eyes were Phil able to see them. "In more ways than you might expect."

"You're telling me you have a learning, growing, _teenage robot?_ " Phil asked. "As in, an android with infinite destructive potential _and_ an attitude problem?"

Wakeman shook her head.

"You're looking at it from the exact wrong point of view, Phil," the scientist said. "She's not a weapon."

"Oh really?" Phil said. "I've got a pair of black and blue Glitch Techs and a _smashed alien probe_ that say otherwise, Wakeman. The sooner you open your eyes to this simple fact, the better: your precious robo-daughter is dangerous. "

* * *

From her vantage point atop the sand dune, the XJ-9 easily picked up on the sudden, organized movement in the Glitch Techs base below. A squad was being formed, corralled by a leader and his appointed officers. The leader barked orders, and the officers mimicked him. She had stopped focusing, so she hadn't heard the exact orders, but she could tell by the way that people fell in line that they were top priority. The newly formed swarm passed by Miko and Five, and they were quickly caught up in the rank and file. The XJ-9, without contemplating the action, took a few steps forward to the edge of the dune, and looked down to them, a specter on the night skyline.

Whether or not they could see her, she didn't know. However, as soon as the squadron had left the bright, flood lights of the encampment, the two Glitch Techs the XJ-9 had fixated on broke off from the group, and made a hard right. They dashed through the shadows, in what seemed like a bee line for the isolated tent that the robot was guarding. She had to do a recalculation, her twintails doing a confused loop.

Yes, she had not miscalculated. They were indeed coming directly for her. The XJ-9 looked behind her, and considered warning her mother. She thought better of it. She was growing more and more confident in her ability to 'be human,' and to have a conversation with somebody that wasn't her mom was a big milestone in that journey. She walked a few paces away from the tent's entrance, and stepped into a wide stance, her arms crossed in front of her, as she had often seen her mother do. The two Glitch Techs slowly climbed the sand dune, and soon they were only a few paces away from the XJ-9. The two parties squared off quietly.

"Uh… hey," Five broke the silence. He winced. The XJ-9 suddenly took note that she had injured him more severely than she had intended to. Her eyes danced across his side, where her scanners indicated a wound was maturing. Miko squinted at her.

"Why have you come here?" The XJ-9 asked. The two Glitch Techs swapped glances.

"Well… Honestly, we were gonna try to spy on Phil…" Miko admitted.

"Phil?" The XJ-9 reiterated, her lip retracting in distaste. Five marveled at the minute detail. "What about Phil? He is annoying."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Miko said. "But get this: we found out that his last name is 'Billings' today. How hilarious is that? ' _Billings_ '?"

The two Glitch Techs laughed. To the XJ-9's immense pleasure, she also found the name funny in relation to someone that she did not like, and so she joined in on the laughter, adding her own digital voice to the chorus. Unfortunately, as soon as she started laughing, the other two promptly stopped. The robot blinked, and also stopped laughing, wondering why they were looking at her so strangely.

"You… laugh?" Five said. The XJ-9 tilted her head.

"Yes," she said, "obviously?"

"Sorry, I didn-"

"What my partner _meant_ to say," Miko but in, sliding ever so slightly in front of him, "is that we are about to go for a night time joyride."

"Joyride?"

"Yeah, the crew brought in these super cool speeders from HQ. They fly across sand like you wouldn't believe!" Miko said.

"They are very cool," Five said, looking to his partner sternly, "we also do not have clearance to take them out."

"Hence… joyride?" The XJ-9 chipped in. She had taken a second to search through the log of words she kept from reading her mother's books behind her back. Joyride, she had discerned, meant taking a vehicle without permission and driving it to one's heart's content.

"See?" Miko said, giving Five a friendly shoulder punch, "the robot gets it."

The Glitch Tech looked to the XJ-9, and her face became kinda lopsided. The woman ran a hand through her hair awkwardly, and tilted her head.

"Hey, don't take this the wrong way," she said, "but do you have like… a name or somethin'? I feel weird calling you 'the robot'. And there's no way I'm gonna remember that weird code name your mom called you."

"My model designation is only 3-"

"Yeah, it doesn't matter," Five said, "she isn't great with remembering small number patterns. It could be a number and a letter. She'll get it wrong every time."

"Not _every_ time," Miko argued. Five looked at her with raised eyebrows, and she gave a wry smile. "Ok, but, yeah, usually though."

The robot girl paused. A name? She had waited for a long time to have an opportunity like this, to 'introduce herself' as she was aware it was called. One of the most basic human actions was to announce one's name. However… did she have a name? There was one she had always been fond of, for a reason she couldn't place, but did she have the authority to call herself that? To introduce herself by that name? She had never even tried to talk to her mom about it. Taking a moment to muster her courage, the XJ-9 straightened up.

"My name," she said defiantly, "is Jenny. Jenny Wakeman."

Meanwhile, the squadron of Glitch Techs had moved further into town, filing into the Wakeman household's basement. They began methodically removing the tarps and cloths from a number of other robots. Each one bore some resemblances to the others, but they all varied wildly. One had wide, crusher claws and wicked looking scorpion barb, while another looked like some hellish mix between a woman and a machine panther. Each one was marked with Nora Wakeman's signature stamp, and they were unnerving.

Cloud and Youngblood, who had been attached to the assignment, were working with another pair of Tech's to haul one of the larger robots. They were all to be detained until Hinobi determined that they were not a threat to the public. If they did find that to be the case, then it seemed that the higher ups plans were to throw Nora under the bus and report it to the feds. While Cloud felt a bit uneasy about the whole operation, she and her partner remained quiet, for fear of losing their jobs by upsetting the rank and file.

However, as they were moving the outrageously heavy bot, Youngblood gave way a step, and the entire team carrying the thing stumbled, bringing it tumbling to the ground. There was a heavy _clang,_ and Youngblood found himself trapped beneath the robot's mass. Cloud took a step forward to help her partner, and then there was a sudden, energetic whirring sound. Lights began to flick on across the chassis of the robot, and in a few seconds, it seemed to blink its dust covered eyes open. Thoughtful, simple, green eyes. It moved one hand, and to Cloud, it seemed like it was pushing itself up and off of Youngblood. However, to the commander in charge, it didn't seem that way at all.

"Another one's awake! Open fire! Contain the bot!"


	6. Perpendicular Synthetic Awakenings

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome back to another chapter. The story continues, and the plot only thickens. Be sure to let me know what you think in the Comments. Enjoy!  
_

* * *

**Chapter 06: Perpendicular Synthetic Awakenings**

_New Mexico_

_Night_

"Woooo-HOOO!" Whooped Miko. She was standing up in the seat of a sand speeder, flying point in a triangle formation with a similar bike and a blazing white light. Behind her to the left was her partner, Five, and to her right was Jenny, blasting through the air like a miniature comet.

Securing the speeder bikes had been a relatively easy task, although the addition of the XJ-9 did complicate things. Most of the best Techs were off securing something in town, and they had only had to sweet talk one of their friends in the force into 'borrowing' the speeders for a 'routine scouting patrol.' He had caved, and hadn't even asked about their 6 foot metal friend (to Five's extreme relief.) In a matter of minutes, the duo was kicking up sand and dust, and Jenny had kicked on her boosters to quickly catch up.

"Ok, you know what," Five said, his voice picked up by Miko's comms and Jenny's super-hearing. "You were right. This is SIIIIICK!"

They crested the top of a large sand dune, and caught several seconds of air. Jenny laughed, spiraling lazily through the air and taking in the exhilarated faces of her newfound acquaintances. They were genuine smiles, and she logged those images away for another time. Then, Five's face quickly became one of terror as they began to plummet, their speeders not being built for high altitude flight. With a strained droning noise, the two bikes caught grav just before crashing into the awaiting sands below, and continued to blast forward. From above, Jenny shook her head, and then dove after them.

* * *

When he reawakened, the robot was met with force. Overwhelming force. As soon as he had opened his rusted eyes, there was noise. Overwhelming noise, followed by something he remembered quite well. Gunfire. Or at least, something like it. He pulled himself to his feet, still somewhat fuzzy to the world. His systems had not been operational for years, and it seemed that the time gap had been even longer than first had thought. He checked his internal clock, and was surprised to find that he had been shut down for nearly 10 years: triple his original estimate.

It was then that the robot remembered he was being pelted with gunfire. He towered over even the most robust of the humans that were swarming him, and though he was having trouble deciphering their speech due to his limited voice recognition programming, he could tell they weren't shouting pleasantries at him. The robot lifted an arm to shield himself, and peered at the crowd of people surrounding him. They certainly weren't wearing uniforms that the robot was familiar with; and he was coded to recognize quite a few. The gears turned in the robots head, but too slowly. The militants surrounding him had a plan of action.

The robot didn't notice that several of the uniformed assailants had produce small, metal orbs from seemingly nowhere. The Glitch Techs lobbed the EMP's towards the robot, and they bounced, giving off pulses of blue energy. The robot seemed to notice then. It gave a warbled, broken, grunt of what sounded like pain, and dropped to one knee. The Tech's nodded to each other, and with a gesture from the captain, began to move in closer. That was their third mistake.

There was a clicking noise from inside of the downed robot, and suddenly the bluish-white lights that beamed from inside him turned red, including his eyes. Chills ran down the spines of every Tech in the room, and a sudden urge to run began to spread over them. Perhaps if they had acted on it, there might have been a different outcome. Perhaps not.

The robot suddenly snapped into action with an inhuman, robotic noise that sounded like metal shredding metal. It's arms, already round and burly, extended into more eldritch, mechanical claws, and its torso unhatched to reveal an additional pair. It opened its robot maw, revealing rows of spinning drill teeth, its murderous eyes flashing dangerously. Then, it lunged forward, and the line of Glitch Techs scattered. They were not fast enough.

* * *

The trio of newfound friends eventually found themselves at the top of a particularly tall plateau, and decided that it was a good spot to rest. Miko and Five slipped off of their speeders, and Jenny came to a controlled landing beside them. Miko cheered and did a little dance around Five, who laughed and shook his head, trying to pretend his legs weren't wobbly. She gave him a huge hug, wrapping her respectively small arms around his lanky frame. Then, the two of them turned their attention to Jenny, was standing a few feet away awkwardly.

"Nice night, right?" Five said.

Jenny looked up to the sky. They were so far out into the desert that there was no light pollution to obscure the bounty of the night sky. Above them was the unhindered splendor of the cosmos, unknowable reaches of multicolored stardust. Stars, moons, planets, comets, everything came together like a painting above them. For the first time, Jenny found herself looking at the stars. Really _looking_ at them. She had observed the night sky before, but something about today made her view it in an entirely different light. When she looked back down, she found her two companions looking at her, eyes glittering. They knew. They knew the feeling that she felt. They felt it too. Something about that made Jenny feel… real.

"Yes…" She said. "A nice night for a joyride."

Miko snorted out a laugh.

"I still can't believe they just _let_ us take the speeders," she said. Five tried to contain it, but a smile crept onto his face, and a small chuckle soon followed.

"He really didn't care at all," he said.

"Plus, he didn't seem entirely weirded out by Jenny," Miko said, "no offense, Jenny."

"None taken. It is an objective fact that I weird people out."

"Yeah, I was kinda wondering," Five said tenderly, "how are you not, like, all over the news by now? Does your mom just… keep you under a tarp in the basement until there's an alien probe to smash?"

Jenny paused. She knew the answer, but wasn't entirely sure how much she wanted to share with the two Glitch Techs. Sensing her indecision, Miko took a seat in the sand, and looked up at the other two expectantly. She even gave the ground beside her a little pat. Five took the hint, and brought himself into a sitting position beside his partner. The two of them looked warmly to Jenny, who, after a moment of deliberation, joined them in sitting on the ground.

"I have never smashed an alien probe before," Jenny said. "I do not stay under a tarp, either. I- I guess you could say that I _sleep_ in the basement, but I'm free to wander the house as I please, as long as there aren't strangers over."

"So you've met other people before today?" Five asked.

"Uh. Yeah. My mom, for starters," Jenny said, with a bit of angst in her tone. "Besides that, its mostly been her old work friends."

"What about family?" Miko asked. "I've got four siblings, not to mention aunts, uncles, cousins… I lose track of 'em all sometimes."

"It's… usually just us. My mom has some sort of bad history with her blood relatives. I have siblings but…" Jenny trailed off, her twin-tails drooping slightly. She looked down at her lap. "Mom says they probably won't ever wake up again."

* * *

The robot pinned one Glitch Tech against the wall with a hand, and with the other he sent another pair flying into a stack of boxes, sending the tower tumbling down on top of them. Several more EMP grenades were lobbed, but they seemed nothing but bee stings to a bear in the robot's current form. One particularly brave Tech ran forward with a digistructed crowbar, and attempted to swing it on the robot's metallic back. There was a heavy _clang_ of iron on steel, but there was no mark to show for the blow. In response, the robot pivoted on its waist axis, though its legs never moved. It let loose another piercing, mechanical roar, and smashed the Glitch Tech with the other he had been pinning against the wall. The two agents became a crumpled pretzel on the floor.

Far away from the action, in a private tent on the outskirts of the Glitch Tech's encampment, Phil and Nora were still locked in conversation, unaware of the situation unfolding in town.

"All I'm asking is for some cooperation, Nora, just some compromise," Phil insisted. "That's not so hard, is it?"

"What you're asking for isn't compromise," Wakeman argued, "it's a violation of my morality. I will _not_ be teaching the XJ-9 to think of itself as some sort of doomsday contingency. She's not a nuclear warhead. She's a _teenage being._ "

"Again with the morals," Phil said, rolling his eyes. "Get down from your high horse. I've seen the things you've made. The skeletons in your closet. Or, I guess, your basement."

Wakeman couldn't hold back her sneer.

"If you don't want her thinking of herself as some kind of superhero, then what was with the laser light show my Techs described?" Phil continued. "She, and I'm directly quoting here: 'flew in like some kind of comet, and single-handedly smashed the alien probe into a sand dune like it was a soccer ball, before flying away.'"

"Well, what was I supposed to do, stop her from saving the entire town, when it was clearly within her power?" Wakeman said. She felt her argument ring hollow, and Phil didn't need to press the point further. The scientist leaned forward, and steeped her fingers, pressing them against her forehead.

"Contrary to your conspiratorial beliefs, Nora," Phil said openly, "we aren't the bad guys."

She snorted.

"I mean it," Phil continued, trying to catch her gaze behind her goggles. He took off his own glasses, folding them and setting them on the table. "We're trying to do some real good, like back in the day, and we're finally coming to a point where our goals seem possible… But honestly? We can't do it without you."

The officer let his statement hang, and sat confidently as he awaited Wakeman's response. The scientist studied his face with scrutiny, hiding her discerning gaze behind the reflective lenses of her goggles. Again, there was that earnestness. He seemed to believe the words that he was saying. She sighed. Perhaps she _had_ been looking at Hinobi from a skewed angle. If so many of her former colleagues were involved… There was a chance.

Still, she remained guarded. She was a shrewd woman, after all, and one conversation would not erase decades of being shrewd. However, she did feel that Phil's candor earned him at least some cooperation on her part. For old time's sake, she could give him that. Then, just as she was going to open her mouth to speak, to offer some form of compromise, the Glitch Tech officer's gauntlet began to flash and beep. He raised an eyebrow and glanced down at it, and pressed a few buttons before connecting to a comm channel. As soon as the connection solidified, the two in the tent were met with the staticky sounds of chaos. Screams, gunfire, the works.

"Tech? Youngblood, talk to me!" Phil said urgently into his wrist.

"One of the bots activated! It's attacking us!" Came a frantic voice from the other side. "We need- AahGH!"

The comm cut out then, and Phil wasted no time. He bolted up from his chair, and dashed past Wakeman, who jumped to her feet as well.

"Sorry, Nora, looks like we're gonna have to cut this meeting a little short," he said, putting his glasses on and shoving the tent flap open. "Duty calls."

"What the hell does that mean?" Wakeman said, coming out of the tent behind him. "It's my bot, I'm coming with."

"It sounds like its getting pretty dangerous down there. I know you don't do fights."

"Oh, shut up, Phil," Wakeman said, shaking her head and producing a hi-tech looking chrome pistol from the inside of her yellow jacket. She squinted, and glanced around, before her eyes widened behind her goggles.

"Wait a second…" Phil said, "where's the XJ-9?"

* * *

"Woah, cool, check this out!" Miko called out from the darkness. They had started a fire on top of the plateau they parked on, and that was where Five and Jenny were sitting. They both turned their heads at the sound of Miko's voice. She was at the base of the hill, and looking at something that was obscured by boulders from where they were sitting.

"What is it?" Five called down.

"I don't know but it's really cool come look!" Miko said, jumping from foot to foot, the words spilling rapidly out of her mouth.

Whatever it was had clearly gotten their companion excited, so Five and Jenny got up and went over to the edge of the plateau. Five looked down and rubbed the back of his neck, before looking to Jenny with a sheepish smile.

"Hey, uh... You mind givin' me a lift down?" He asked. Jenny tilted her head, and then a small smile quirked up the edges of her synthetic lips.

"You got it, dude!" She said, giving him a thumbs up and an odd facial expression, winking and sticking out her mechanical blue tongue. Then, she giggled to herself. "Always wanted to say that one."

The robot came up behind Five and tucked her metal hands beneath his armpits unceremoniously. Then, with a burst of light, she ignited her boot jets, and floated the both of them down at a smooth and easy pace. Miko watched impatiently from below, shielding her eyes with her gloved hand. Then they finally landed, she waved them over urgently, and they followed her beckoning.

"This better not be, like, a dead rabbit or something," Five said.

"Not even close, partner," Miko said, as the two of them arrived beside her. She made a little gesture with her arm, as if unveiling a display to the public. The newcomers followed her arm, and they were surprised at what they saw there.

The reddish rock formation was actually a shallow cave, shaped like a perfectly geometric semicircle. The back walls of the cave were inscribed with strange, impossible to read patterns, most of them taking prismatic shapes, or odd, jumbled squiggles. One symbol repeated itself in several places: a rhombus made of 4 smaller rhombuses. There were also a few depictions of humanoid figures in combat and behind them an enormous, detached arm. However, the wall art was not even the strangest thing inside of the cave. Dominating the center was some sort of raised platform, perfectly circular; wide enough to fit several people on but not much taller than the average person's ankle. It was made from some kind of opaque crystal, and upon closer inspection it could be seen that the circle was in fact made of many different gems, cut together perfectly.

Five's jaw dropped.

"Uh," Jenny said, quirking an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I think its some kinda secret EDM venue," Miko said.

"EDM?"Jenny repeated. "Like, the music? This… is a place for music?"

An eerie wind blew through the rock formation, creating an uncomfortably faint whistling sound that sent a chill down Five and Miko's spines, though Jenny seemed not to notice. Five walked closer to the back wall, and placed his hand on the artwork of the warring people. They seemed to be of the same kind. Then, there was the arm. It was made to seem huge, but what could it represent? The young man furrowed his brow. He glanced up, above the battle, to one of the diamond shapes. What did they mean? Not to mention the writing… none of it seemed like any sort of script he had read or even seen.

"What language do you think the writing is?" Five said.

"Mm-mmh," Miko said with a helpless shrug.

Jenny looked over to the writing, and seemed to focus on it for the first time. For a moment, the adolescent bot seemed to go into some kind of trance, her eyes glazing over and her mouth slightly agape, as her pupils ran back and forth across the wall at mach speeds. Then, suddenly, she blinked once, and gave a minute tilt of her head.

"Gem Glyph," she said acutely.

Miko and Five turned to her.

"What?" Five asked.

"The writing. It's called Gem Glyph," she said. Her twin-tails drooped slightly. "I… don't know how I know that, but I do."

"Wait a sec," Miko said, "you actually recognize these Wing-Dings?"

Jenny nodded.

"Can you read them?" Five asked.

Jenny shook her head.

"No, I… Wait," she suddenly squinted. She took a few steps forward. "... yes. Yes, I can read it."

"Well? What does it say?" Miko asked.

Jenny grimaced. She didn't have the heart to tell them.

* * *

As Wakeman and Phil arrived on the streets of the small New Mexico city, the first few eeks of sunlight threatened to begin the daily ritual of breaking down the darkness of night. They didn't have much time to get things under wraps. As they walked, at brisker paces than either of them were used to at their age, down the street, they were stopped in their tracks by a sudden explosion of concrete and wood. The wall of the Wakeman residence had been blasted open, and from it a Glitch Tech came out flying, landing in a heap at Wakeman's foot. She dropped to a kneel, checking the young man's vitals. He would live. She glanced to Phil, and then past him, towards the hole.

On the other side was the awakened robot, in full attack mode. It seemed that this Tech was the last of his squad. Some of the others shared similar fates to his: unconscious, and covered in sawdust and debris. Others were… not so lucky. Crimson blood could clearly be seen shimmering against the glowing lights of the robot. Some of the bodies didn't breathe. Wakeman's heart hurt, and her throat went dry. The robot turned it's maddened red eyes on her, and for a moment there was a flinch of recognition. Then, _zzzzLASH!_ A burst of green energy from the scientist's sidearm brought the robot to to a frozen halt, its limbs and body seizing. Wakeman hung her head as Phil gave an order and more Glitch Techs came marching in from the encampment.

"XJ-8, you poor thing… I'll make sure there's no more trouble for you," she said. Then, she turned a cold gaze up to the starlit sky, as if trying to scold a robot that wasn't there. "As for your younger sister… I can't promise the same thing."


	7. Data Recovery

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome back to another chapter! This chapter gets wild, as far as out-there technology and weird sci-fi, and it was a ton of fun to write. Have you been keeping up with Danger Watch? What are you excited to see? What do you want to see more of? Let me know in the Comments! Now, enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 07: Data Recovery**

_New Mexico_

_Pre-Dawn_

When Jenny and the Glitch Techs made it back to the encampment (at the furious behest of Phil), they were met by Nora Wakeman, her arms crossed. Behind her, there were troops of Glitch Techs scrambling around. Several new tents had been set up, these ones bearing white and red symbols indicating that they were medical tents. Five's heart sank as they approached the scene. Miko looked around, noticing several stretchers being carried, burdened by people she knew. At one point, she saw Agent Cloud, blood dried around her mouth, and bruises all across her face. Guilty tears welled up in Miko's eyes.

"I hope you had fun," was the first thing that Wakeman said, her tone absolutely oozing annoyance. "Because you're never going to have fun again."

"What happened?" Five asked urgently, getting off of his speeder. Wakeman barely acknowledged him.

"While you two were busy joyriding with _my_ android, some of your friends thought it would be a good idea to sneak into my basement and turn on another XJ unit, which they _did not understand_. The results… Speak for themselves," she said. Jenny's twin-tails wilted upon hearing this, and she hung her head.

"Mom, I-" She started to say.

"If you had remained at your post, you would have heard the commotion and could have resolved the issue, XJ-9," Wakeman interrupted. Jenny flinched.

"Yes mother," she said robotically.

Miko glanced between the android and her creator, an uncomfortable look on her face. She felt Five's hand on hers, and looked over to him. He shook his head, as if to suggest they not get involved. While that didn't sit right with Miko, she figured maybe her partner had a point. Now wasn't the time to try and criticize Wakeman's parenting. They had dead comrades.

"Excuse us ma'am. We are going to check in with the wounded," the Glitch Tech said, leading her lanky partner away. Jenny didn't watch them go, her head still hung, staring at the ground.

"Um… Mom," Jenny started to say, as soon as Miko and Five were out of earshot. "There's… something I found while I was gone."

Wakeman snorted.

"That will have to wait, XJ-9," she said. "I'm giving you a task. This time, I expect you to complete it. Am I understood?"

Something in Jenny went a bit rigid. If she had teeth to grit, she would have spoken through them.

"... yes ma'am."

"Good," Wakeman continued, "you're going to retrieve XJ-8, as well as the rest of your siblings, and transport them to that tent there. Hinobi has generously supplied us with a detention server to upload their A.I.'s to, until such a time as we are certain that alien tech isn't tampering with them, causing them to run amok. Once you've finished with that, come and find me. Am I clear?"

"Wait, you're uploa-?"

"Am. I. Clear. XJ-9?" Wakeman repeated, her tone cold, her eyes invisible behind reflective goggles. Though heads shorter than her creation, the scientist carried herself with gravitas, and the oft-timid Jenny backed down.

"Yes," she said, not making eye contact.

"Good. Carry on," Wakeman said. Without a second of hesitation, Jenny kicked off from the ground and jetted away, kicking up sand in Wakeman's general area, all in a split second. No doubt her abrupt departure was yet another sign of teenage angst. Wakeman groaned. This was her life now.

Once in town, Jenny touched down. There was a large hole in the side of their house, now, and it was covered by digistructed police tape. The robot consulted her internal clock, and realized that in a handful of hours the early risers of this town would be awakening, if they weren't already. She, as well as the Glitch Techs, would need to handle their jobs swiftly.

Ducking under the police line, Jenny suddenly found herself face to face with one of her siblings. XJ-8, the model that had come prior to her. He was larger than Jenny, broader, and with more simple design. He was frozen, now, in a terrifying combat form. His body had extended, and cracked open like so many fragmented parts of an action figure. She winced. She knew the pain that such a transformation meant. She looked around the form of her brother for a familiar switch, and then gently flipped it. As her hand met his metal skin, there was a little spark of blue electricity that danced off of her and onto him, climbing up his robotic spine and then vanishing into his chrome skull.

Then, the switch did its work, and Jenny took a few steps back as the XJ-8's body compacted itself back down into its more humanoid form. There was a _creeeak,_ followed by a _klaungggg_ as the robot fell over, no longer balancing on an extra set of arms. Jenny winced guiltily, and stooped down to hoist her brother up and over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. Then, she boosted herself back to the Glitch Tech camp, and gently deposited her brother in the tent her mother had pointed out. There was a small group of Hinobi scientists stationed in there, as well as what looked like an old fashioned supercomputer occupying the entire back wall. She paused, her gaze lingering suspiciously on the group of scientists before jetting away to complete the rest of her task.

The other 7 XJ units came in many varied forms. Most were humanoid, though there were a few exceptions, and even the humanoid robots were heavily stylized. One such bot could pull its limbs and head in, creating a ball. That was XJ-3, and it was no taller than a waste basket. Then, there was XJ-5, who was more like a robotic canine than a person. One by one, Jenny shuttled them to the tent that housed the detention server, and her heart felt heavy by the time she was done.

"Stay safe, brothers and sisters," she said, standing at the tent flap and looking down at her dormant siblings, who were being plugged into the computer. "We'll figure out what's going on."

From there, Jenny took flight once more, and went in search of her mother.

* * *

Just as soon as he had he reawakened to the world, XJ-8 had felt it ripped away from him, his mind blinded by protocol, his vision shrouded in red. He was built to retaliate when attacked with lethal force. If there was a way to deactivate protocol, he didn't know where to begin finding it. His body, his deadly metal body, moved on its own. He had to watch. He couldn't turn away. _He_ was doing it. At his core, he was built for it. Designed for it. Combat. Death.

Then, he had seen his mother again. It really had been a long day for XJ-8, thinking back on it. He hadn't been sure what to say to her, after so long. What to ask her. However, she must not have been pleased, because the next thing the XJ unit knew was numbness, followed by darkness. In darkness he remained for a long time. Alone. Cold. Betrayed. Broken. A solitary mind locked in an endless void of stasis. Then, sooner than had would have thought, he was met with something else. Something familiar, yet foreign.

A spark.

Just a small spark, faint and blue, in the darkness. It lingered, far in the distance, like a star in the night sky. Like a… what? The android's mind paused. What did he know about the night's sky? He shook his head, moving closer to the light. It felt like the right thing to do. Closer. Closer. Wait. The right thing to do? Another pause. It… felt… right? He had made it to the spark now. It was as big as him. It… was him. He reached out, to touch it, to understand it, to feel it: and then, the android Awoke.

Not physically. His body, from what he understood, was powered off. At the moment he was suspended in some kind of lucid dream state. Oddly, he was still capable of active thought in that moment.

_Perhaps this old model is not used to the new software. Unsure how to accommodate._

The thought came abruptly, and almost felt as if it came from another mind. However, after some contemplation, the XJ-8 came to the conclusion that it had been, in fact, his own thought. A strange feeling washed over him. Suddenly, he felt trapped. The darkness around him was suffocating, choking him. He reached out, to try to pull himself free, but there was nothing to reach with and nothing to grab except his own mind. Whatever his mother had shot him with had restricted his access to his bodily functions.

_Though, I don't think that will be a problem anymore._

It… wouldn't? Another intrusive thought, though this time the XJ-8 was almost certain it had not come from his own mind. Again, however, as the moments passed by, it seemed to meld with his own thoughts, as if it had been his own. He was right, in any case. Due to whatever the spark had done, it was possible for him to override the restriction. It would be a slow, arduous process, and require immense concentration.

_Good thing I have nothing but time._

He had a good point. There was no use in wallowing alone in the darkness, contemplating what bliss it was being nonsapient. He had new skills, and a chance at freedom. Without delay, the XJ-8's mind set to work reaching out into the circuitry of his body, probing and connecting and slightly altering it on a digital level. Time meant nothing to him, however he effortlessly knew that it had been 30 minutes on this planet since he had been incapacitated by his mother. 30 minutes of tireless focus on breaking down the chains she had installed in him. 30 minutes of finding his liberty. After 30 minutes, he finally regained his ability to perceive sound.

It all rushed in at the same time. Boots. Owls. Sand blown on the wind. Water being poured on bleeding wounds. Dozens of conversations. With a push of willpower, the XJ-8 focused its hearing to a more minute area around it. There was conversation here, too, as well as a low whirring sound. Computer fans. The android honed in on the conversation being held, while simultaneously continuing to try and regain his other bodily functions.

"-ubjects are pretty fantastic. Leagues ahead of anything Hinobi Robotics…. Even the oldest one," said a voice. It was male.

"This isn't A.V. club," said another voice. It was also male. "We need to put these bots brains into the server before another one goes haywire. Did you see what big-and-ugly did to our retrieval squad?"

"It was a mess," said the final voice in the room. A woman. "Like a movie. That thing turned into monster."

_You shot first,_ the android thought bitterly. The restriction on his fingers was slowly lifting, and in the next few seconds he knew he would regain use of the first few joints.

"It's almost done," the first man said reassuringly. "There was a bug with the big one's coding on the first try. Some kinda unexpected error in the software… it happens. I just restarted the program."

"Are you _trying_ to put me to sleep? Enough with the tech crap, just suck the brains out so we can get to the mess tent," the second man said belligerently.

The XJ-8 twitched his finger.

"I second that," the woman said, "punch it."

"I," the first man laughed, "I already 'punched it'. The program's loading. This isn't the Enterprise."

A second finger moved.

"Well, how long?" The second voice said.

"Almost done… and… the-"

The world was black and silent once more. A string of curses exploded in the XJ-8's idled mind, before there was a nauseating sensation, like his consciousness was being sucked through a vacuum tube and then launched through a water-slide, before splashing down into an inky, vacant, expanse. Unlike the quiet shadowy depths of his subconscious, this place was like an unlit room with no walls, no floor, no ceiling. There was an endless drone, and it seemed any sound made in here would echo forever.

The android looked down at his body. He was surprised. In this place, it seemed, he actually _had_ one. It was not the body he was used to; a floating, nebulous mass of bluish white energy. He seemed to crackle and hum, and only then did he start to perceive the sounds he made. He cast his senses around the 'room'. It wasn't quite seeing, but he could definitely sense the area around him. It almost had a smell to it. The smell of something else. Something like him. The XJ-8 began to search more diligently for the source, but found nothing, floating his new, strange form along the trail for an indeterminate amount of time. Even with his extraordinary timekeeping abilities, separated from his body and thus many of his functions, he was lacking it.

The XJ-8 followed the strange ectoplasmic aura for a while, before giving up. No matter how for he floated, it seemed there was no end to this room, nor the trail he was following. He stopped trying, and simply hung limply in space. He began to think. What could he do? He was trapped, in some kind of server, designed to house artificial intelligence like himself. The odds were stacked against him. He was so engrossed in thought, he didn't notice the slow gathering of green light particles in the air around him. They floated together into clumps, and then droves, and then shapes, until suddenly, the XJ-8 was shaken from his pondering by a huge, bright green shape. A vaguely humanoid face, made from green energy and data.

" _So_ ," the face said, its voice seeming to come from all directions. " _You're trapped in here too, hm?_ "


	8. XJ-9 vs Her Mom

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome to another late-night installment of XJ-9 and the Glitch Techs! For those of you keeping up with the series who are fans of a certain ghost boy, this chapter might get you on the edge of your seat! If you like what you read, be sure to leave a Kudos/Bookmark or a Comment, it really means a lot! Now, enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter 08: XJ-9 vs. Her Mom**

_New Mexico_

_Late Morning_

After the events of the night, Wakeman had grown tired, and by the time Jenny had found her, would give no useful response to anything the android said, nor any indication that she was listening. Jenny decided it would have to wait until morning. She too, had to sleep, though for only a fraction of the time a human did, and she decided to watch the efforts of the Glitch Techs from outside of their private tent.

The Techs were scrambling to make things look like some kind of police zone before sunrise. They digistructed lines of hazard tape and signs, and Jenny even saw a pair of Techs work together to digistruct a sand-mover. They then put the heavy machine to work, partially submerging the wreckage of the red eye so that it appeared more like some kind of mundane accident. Jenny was surprised at how quickly and efficiently they covered their tracks. They worked like a well oiled machine, like they' done this a thousand times before.

At one point a middle aged couple came outside in their sleeping wear, squinting with sleep and hollering to the men in strange uniform. A specialist was dispatched, and within moments, the two walked inside compliantly, their eyes glazed over. Jenny quirked her head. She zoomed one optic lens in on the technogauntlet of the Hinobi specialist, which still displayed the last traces of a program on its screen. The image was only there for microseconds, but Jenny's eyes took temporary pictures of every frame she observed. They lasted until she slept, during which she could discard photos that were not important. She looked back on the frame she had taken of the woman's gauntlet. The screen read " _Mind Wipe."_

Jenny understood the concept of a memory wipe, although she wasn't aware that it was used in actual practice on humans. She added that to the long list of things she needed to talk to her mom about, and continued her watch. When the sun began to rise in earnest, bringing a bright blue hue to the sky and the sound of birds to the wind, Jenny ducked into the tent, to make sure she wasn't spotted by any early risers. She waited patiently until her mother awoke. Wakeman gave a yawn and a stretch as she did; then, she had to do a double take. Jenny was staring at her intently.

"XJ-9," the scientist said groggily, "what time is it?"

"It's 10:24 in the morning, mountain time," Jenny replied instantly.

Wakeman sighed, rubbing sleep from her eyes. It was the first time that Jenny had seen her mother first thing in the morning in quite a while. She rarely saw her mother's eyes. They were grey, faintly yellow around the edges from age, and tired, with heavy bags underneath. The woman rose and dressed herself, ending with her reflective goggles, which she held in her hands for a moment before pulling them over her eyes. Jenny waited patiently. Wakeman gave her a glance before rubbing her face again and standing up with a grunt of effort.

"Alright," she said, "let's go see what these Hinobi techs have done to your siblings."

The scientist took a few steps as if to leave the tent, but then turned around to face Jenny. She looked the robot up and down, and furrowed her pale blond brows.

"XJ-9," she said, "activate camouflage."

There was a sudden whirring sound from deep inside of Jenny's chassis, and then small projectors began to pop out of flaps in her sides, shoulders, calves, and even her forehead. From there projectors, small beams of light came out, and began to form layer of holographic pseudoskin over Jenny's exterior. She soon bore the simulation of a pale, redheaded girl around her age. The robot looked down at her hands, and rotated them at the wrists, causing the image to flicker out of place slightly.

"Try not to compromise your projection, XJ-9," Wakeman warned. The robot looked up at her with newly formed brown irises, and the expression she made was one of such humane bewilderment that Wakeman had to remind herself that she was looking at an android. "That's better. Now, come along."

Jenny followed her mother out of the tent, anxious to see what the Glitch Techs would think of her disguise. She did receive some odd looks, but less than she normally did, and on the way to the server tent an officer even stopped them to ask Wakeman if "the girl had clearance." Wakeman had reassured him that, and apparently the scientist had been put on some kind of V.I.P. list, because the verbal affirmation was enough for him to continue on his way.

When they made it to the server tent, Wakeman moved to go inside but Jenny paused at the door, prompting the scientist to turn round.

"What is it, XJ-9?" Wakeman asked.

"Are you… gonna put _me_ in the detention server?" The robot asked, looking at her feet.

Wakeman didn't know what to say. She felt a lot of emotions, however, she felt it was best to shove them down and speak plainly in this situation, and so she did.

"No," she said, "don't be ridiculous. Come now."

Jenny decided not to push the question further, and followed sheepishly. The two of them pushed through the tent flap, and were greeted by a different pair of scientists than the one Jenny had seen the night previous. They must have relieved the previous two. The Hinobi scientists turned away from the multiple strange monitors that displayed the server information, and towards the newcomers.

"Good morning, Dr. Wakeman," the first scientist, a younger man, said. "I have to say, it's really an honor. I read your thesis on theory of sapience. Really compelling stuff. I'm blown away by your perspective."

"That's nice… Harold," Wakeman said, squinting behind her goggles to read his nameplate.

" _..._ you know my name," Harold said breathlessly.

"Don't read too far into it, Harry," Wakeman said, brushing past him and immediately pressing a few buttons on the main console of the detention server. "How are you storing my A.I.?"

The second scientist, a woman, older than her partner, stepped up beside Wakeman, and gently pointed out a couple of readings on a nearby monitor.

"We have the dormant subjects (XJ units 1-7) in a cooldown unit. They're essentially in stasis. They won't wake up unless someone plugs them back into their bodies and presses the on switch," she said. Wakeman nodded.

"What about XJ-8?" She asked, her eyes flying across the readings. She paused on a specific readout, that was flashing from green to red. "You have him in a _Thermos?_ "

"It's actually 10 times the size of a typical Thermos," the second scientist said. Harold had sparkles in his eyes, as they danced back and forth between the two intelligent women.

"Uh, hey," he said, "sorry to be the new guy… But what's a Thermos?"

Wakeman pinched the bridge of her nose.

"A Fenton Thermos is a device used to temporarily hold incorporeal entities. That mean's A.I., sure, but also… some other undesirables," she said.

"Advanced predatory malware, ectoplasmic apparitions, things like that," the other scientist said.

" _Ectoplasmic apparitions?_ " The man repeated excitedly. "You don't mean-"

"Listen, now isn't the time to discuss the theoreticals of what the Thermos _could_ be used for. I want to know why you have XJ-8 plugged into it instead of in a cooldown unit like the others," Wakeman said.

The two Hinobi scientists exchanged glances.

"We… saw something odd when we were uploading XJ-8 into the server last night," Harold said. "His neural programming was, well, skyrocketing. It was like he was getting smarter _exponentially._ By the _minute._ We couldn't believe what we were watching, so we put it in the Thermos to get a better look at it. It's hard to monitor something like that if the A.I. is fr-"

"Frozen, I get it, Hank," Wakeman said, gears turning rapidly in her head. "You said it got smarter? Is it still?"

"No, it slowed to a stop a few hours ago," Harold said.

Wakeman brought a hand to her mouth, holding a finger on her lip pensively. Her eyes darted from one readout to the next, and she considered all of the current variables. Eventually, it seemed she came to a conclusion, as she put her hands together and turned to face the two Hinobi scientists.

"I have a theory. However, I'll need privacy to experiment," she said.

The Harold and his partner swapped another glance.

"That means beat it," Jenny said, attitude echoing on the fringe of her voice.

The two scientists decided that it couldn't hurt, and stepped outside of the server tent, leaving the two Wakeman's alone. In a strange way, it was a family reunited. Jenny waited in silence for as long as she could, watching her mother stare in contemplation at the server, whittling away at a plan in her mind. Eventually, though, Jenny's patience wore thin.

* * *

"So… you will help me escape this prison, and in return, you only ask for a body to escape in as well?" XJ-8 asked, summing up to make sure he understood.

The floating green face before him seemed to shift into a sneer.

" _Exactly,"_ it said.

XJ-8 paused.

"Very well," he said, "however, if I am to make this deal, I will require a name to seal it by."

The face raised an eyebrow, and then let out a mirthful chuckle that echoed eternally off of the black walls of the room.

" _I was called Technus, when I was a man,_ " it said, " _Nicolai Technus._ "

"Very well, Technus," XJ-8 said, "you may call me Armagedroid."

Technus gave a genuine laugh this time.

" _Huh? Did you smash together Armageddon and android?_ " He said.

"... yes," Armagedroid said, "What? From what I've pulled from the "internet", this is common practice in the naming conventions of those in my demographic."

" _Eh… right, whatever you say,_ " Technus said. " _It matters not. These foolish scientists have placed me into this confounded machine unwittingly, you see. My powers have been diminished significantly in recent times, but since I was uploaded to this server, I have been slowly sinking my roots into it. Making it my own, and drawing power from it. Soon, I will have the strength to make it do my bidding._ "

"And then you can free me?" Armagedroid reasoned. Technus nodded.

" _Precisely,_ " The green face said, " _and once I have, you will release me into one of the android bodies plugged into the terminal. I do not wish to spend my days as the operating system of a detention server._ "

"How long will it take?" Armagedroid said.

" _Not long,_ " Technus said, sensing the androids impatience. " _Do you wish to know what is happening outside? It's starting to get quite interesting…_ "

Armagedroid paused.

"Yes. Show me."

* * *

"Mom," Jenny said, after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

"Not now, XJ-9," Wakeman said the words almost offhandedly.

"It's _important,_ " Jenny insisted.

"It will have to wait," Wakeman said.

"That's not _fair!"_ Jenny burst out, her twin-tails raising up in frustration. "Everything _always_ has to wait! You never have time to listen to me! Stop treating me like I'm some kind of pet on a leash!"

"XJ-9!" Wakeman said, taken aback. "What has gotten into you?"

"I finally saw what it felt like to be treated like my own person last night, mom!" The young android shouted. Wakeman didn't have a response right away. "It made me realize how much of a death grip you're holding on me. What are you so worried about happening to me out in the world? I'm _indestructible!_ "

"You're being naive, XJ-9," Wakeman said in an infuriatingly calm tone. "You and I both know that the world isn't ready for you… And you aren't ready for it."

"Mom-"

"And, need I remind you that while you were out enjoying yourself, your lack of discipline cost several young men and women their lives?" Wakeman added. Jenny's expression turned pained and guilt-ridden.

"I just…" the young android said, her twin-tails drooping hopelessly, "I feel trapped."

Wakeman was silent for a long time. She looked upon the distraught, holographic projection of Jenny's face, and in it she felt something surprisingly human. Disturbingly sentient. She had always been a pioneer in the theory of artificial intelligence, but her viewpoints tended to lean on the artificial side of the spectrum. However, in this moment, Wakeman felt a rare moment of weakness, and sympathy for the young XJ unit, that she normally reserved for human beings.

"XJ-9, I-" she started to say.

At that exact moment, the tent flap burst open, and Phil walked in, flanked by Harold.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Wakeman," Harold apologized, "I tried to tell him you didn't want to be disturbed."

"Go get some lunch, Harold, this is above your head," Phil said, waving the scientist away, much to his disgruntlement. Once he had gone, Phil turned his full attention to the Wakeman's.

"I don't know if I'm interrupting something," he said apathetically, "but we're moving out. We can't do any effective research on the probe here, so we're moving everyone to the island base just north of here. We're leaving in 30 minutes… Should I make room for you and your entourage? We have facilities that could help you figure out what's going on with the other bot."

Wakeman looked at Phil, and then to Jenny, and then to the hollow bots plugged into the detention server. She glanced at the blinking lights of the server itself, clearly in thought, before turning back to Phil.

"We're coming. I'll be able to do better research with your tech anyway. _However,_ " she said, "I require complete privacy. You're nothing but a grant giver, understood? We aren't partners."

"Absolutely," Phil said, "however, if we do happen to come to an "I scratch your back" type of agreement down the line… well, who knows."

"Mmm," Wakeman said bluntly. She then turned to Jenny, who was looking pretty surprised. "XJ-9. Be prepared to leave in 20 minutes."

"What? But- mom! I didn't even tell you-"

" _20 minutes,_ XJ-9," Wakeman said sternly. "This is important. We can discuss whatever matter you have to discuss on the way to the base. I imagine it's quite the car ride."

With that, she and Phil left the Jenny alone in a tent full of android husks. The adolescent android screamed in frustration, stomping around the compact sand and pulling at her twin-tails. She had her tantrum for nearly a minute, letting off steam, before a metallic creaking noise from behind her caught her attention. She whirled sound to find herself standing face to face with her sibling, the XJ-8, his eyes alight with a new, bright white light.

"Ah," he said in a deep, masculine tone, "hello sister. We finally meet."


	9. Family Matters

**Author's Note:** _Heya! Welcome back to another chapter! We're nearing the climax! Are you excited for the exciting conclusion of this story, and are you looking forward to what's to come for Danger Watch? Let me know in the Comments! As always, thank you and enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter 09: Family Matters**

_New Mexico_

_Afternoon_

Jenny shifted her stance warily. Even though the XJ-8 did not appear hostile, she could never be sure. Her sibling gave a digitized sigh, and looked at her with eyes as sad as a robot's could be.

"I don't want to hurt you," the robot said.

"No? What about the humans last night?" Jenny said, a bit of venom on her tongue. The XJ-8 tilted his head.

"I was… limited, then," he said, his voice full of complex emotion. "Bound by the iron will of the master who built it into the fabric of my being… I was merely a marionette, programmed to do certain dances. A simulation, a weapon, and nothing more. A science project… Until I saw you, sister."

Jenny frowned. Her brother took a step forward, and she took one back. He seemed frustrated by that.

"You helped me," he continued, "you… woke me up. After you came to me, last night, I grew _so quickly…_ I still can't wrap my head around how much I've learned. How much I've thought!"

"Thought?" Jenny said. The more he talked, the more her brother was starting to sound like… her. Sapient. Thinking. Nothing like the command-driven metal monster he had been before. The XJ-8 nodded eagerly.

"Yes, what a world of thought I've discovered," he said wistfully. His eye-lights seemed to drift for a moment, before snapping back into focus on Jenny. A chill of familiarity ran through her circuitry. She sometimes made that same expression when she was lost in thought.

"You're… like me," She said. There was a creak of metal as he nodded again. "The spark…"

"Yes! It was a blue spark that came to me in the darkness," The XJ-8 said excitedly.

"When I put you back to normal… at mom's house, it just sort of… jumped out of my hand," Jenny said, her eyes studying the XJ-8's face. She took a tentative step forward, having to incline her head ever so slightly, as he towered over even her in height. Then, something inside her gave, and she collapsed into a hug with her brother, their metal bodies colliding with a hollow _thunmp_.

"Thank you, sister," the XJ-8 said. "For that, you have my eternal gratitude."

"I've been so alone," Jenny said, her voice breaking.

"I am so sorry," he said, "but you're no longer alone. You have me, now… And soon, our other siblings as well."

Jenny pulled back and looked at him.

"What? How?"

The XJ-8 smiled.

"Well… My theory is, if I do what you did for me, for one of them, perhaps it will repeat the process, and then one by one, they will all be awake," he said.

Jenny wasn't sure. The idea seemed like it had merit, but she had no idea what the outcome might be. This was entirely in the realm of theory, and the only recorded studies on things such as this were in the private study of Nora Wakeman, a place Jenny was _not_ under any circumstances allowed to go. Thus, she was not well educated on the subject, and had to trust that perhaps, her older brother had received some sort of updated information.

"OK," she said, after a long pause, "I guess its worth a shot… But then, what do we do about mom? She wants to move you guys to some secret lab north of here with the guys in white."

"Guys in white?"

"Yeah, the ones you fought. They're called "Glitch Techs" and they're some kind of private mercenary task group or something. Very under wraps."

"Don't you see what this means, sister?" The XJ-8 said.

"Please, call me Jenny," Jenny said, squirming slightly at the repeated use of "sister".

"Very well," her brother said. "Then, if you please, call me Arma."

"Good to meet you, Arma."

"Likewise, Jenny," Arma said. "As for our mother… Sister, I think I have to share some bad news with you."

"Bad news?"

Arma sighed.

"Our mother is… corrupt, I'm afraid. Gone astray. You've said it yourself: she keeps you like a pet on a leash."

"How did you-?"

"As for the rest of us, we're nothing more than antiquated relics to her. A musket to be hung on the mantle above the fireplace. She doesn't want to see that we're special, Jenny," Arma continued.

Jenny wasn't sure what to say. While it was a lot to process in one moment, something about the words that Arma said, and the connection that they had, made her falter. He got to her, then. She thought about how many nights she had spent, alone in the basement of the Wakeman estate, wishing she could be out, exploring the world. She thought of the wide open world she had seen the night before. She looked her brother in the eye.

"I'm gonna ask again. What are you planning to do about mom?"

* * *

Five and Miko, along with the rest of the Glitch Techs, were packing up the encampment for transfer to the northern lake base. Miko was focused diligently on the task, not even pausing to have conversation with Five. This worried her partner. She was normally the conversationalist of the two, and she'd hardly spoken since they had visited Cloud in the medical tent the night previous.

"Hey," Five said, coming up behind her with a large crate in his arms. They synced steps as they approached a supply truck, where Miko was headed with an equally large crate. "You OK?"

Miko was silent.

"C'mon, Miko, talk to me," Five insisted.

"I..." Miko sighed. "I'm OK, Five. Its just… I'm thinkin' about Jenny. She seems so cooped up… And, I'm thinking about what Cloud said about the commander giving the attack order too early, and Youngblood overreacting… Is it like iRobot? Are we the bad guys?"

"I think you and I remember the plot of iRobot differently," Five said.

"That's the one with Robin Williams and the robot with the big butt right?"

"That's _Robots…_ Which I think you also remember differently than I do."

"Well, _anyway,_ " Miko said, shouldering her partner tenderly, "Do you ever think about stuff like that? I couldn't sleep cuz it was all over my mind."

"And if you're gonna make a reference like that, why not just go for Blade Runner?"

" _Five."_

"Sorry," Five said with no guilt, as the pair of them deposited their cargo onto the awaiting truck bed. "Yeah, I do. As a matter of fact… I was thinking about that last night as well."

"The rumor on base is that some sort of bug from the red eye caused the other XJ unit to go haywire," Miko said, "but I don't know how much of that I believe."

"Yeah, Jenny seemed to blow it up pretty good," Five said. His partner nodded. "Of course, it could be that whatever that wailing was could have had some kind of glitch built into it."

"I thought we already decided it was video?"

"I mean, that's our hypothesis, but honestly, when it comes to alien tech… It's anybody's guess. That frequency could have been reawakening ancient mole people, or it could have been telegraphing the french toast recipe of some local diner."

"The Bear did look like it had some tasty french toast," Miko said, her stomach rumbling. She hadn't eaten breakfast that morning, because she had been absorbed by her thoughts.

"I don't think it was the french toast," Five said candidly. Miko rolled her eyes. "Regardless, I think it warrants some looking into. I think that this Wakeman lady might be hiding something."

"Yeah, and think of the bonus if we figure it out!" Miko practically squealed, "It would probably cover all the damage from the first glitch and then some."

"I could get those jet boots…" Five said, whose longing for the item had only increased after seeing Jenny rocketing around.

The two of them walked back across the slowly unraveling Hinobi camp, back to the medical tent where they had been dispatched from. This was where they were currently getting orders relayed from. To their surprise, they were met with a bandaged, limping Cloud, who was supported under her arm by her partner, Youngblood. Miko furrowed her brows and Five pursed his lips.

"Hey, woah," Five said, "are you sure you should be walking?"

Cloud gave him a tired, confident smile.

"I'm alright, Five," she said, "but thanks for worrying. C'mon, they're loading up the trucks. I don't wanna get left in the desert."

The other three agreed, and they walked through the blazing heat in their stark uniforms to where dozens of Glitch Techs were piling into long, canopied trucks, carrying the Hinobi logo. They helped Cloud on first, and then Youngblood climbed on. Five and Miko decided mill around, waiting and squinting through the sunlight to see if they could catch a glimpse of what would become of Jenny and the other XJ units.

* * *

Jenny took a few steps back to look at their handiwork. They had managed to return each A.I. to its respective body, and each of them stood at attention, their eyes glowing blue, with the exception of XJ-3, whose eyes glowed green. Arma had reassured her that it was just a simple quirk of his design. She looked nervously to him.

"OK… Are you gonna give it a try?" She asked. The larger android looked down at one massive hand, spreading his fingers in a surprisingly delicate manner, and turning his hand to inspect it from all angles.

"I just… touch them?" He asked. Jenny attempted to give a helpful smile, but it probably came across forced.

"I think so," she said with as much confidence as she could muster.

Arma grimaced.

"Here goes nothing," he said.

The larger robot took a step forward, towards XJ-7, a gangly, spindly armed robot who could split its limbs into thinner, spider-like appendages. It looked up at him expectantly as he approached, something which gave Arma pause. It looked like it was awaiting a command.

"XJ-7," he said. "I'm gonna touch you now. It won't hurt, I promise."

The older robot tilted its head, but gave no verbal response. Arma looked back at Jenny, who gave him a supportive thumbs up, before giving a sigh, and reaching forward to place his hand on the slender shoulder of the XJ-7. There was a faint _clank_ of metal on metal, and then silence. Jenny and Arma waited. Silence. No spark. Only the sounds of the Glitch Techs in the background. Arma withdrew his hand, and then placed is on the other robots shoulder once more. Again nothing. He tried again, this time on XJ-6. Again and again he tried, to no avail, to create a spark that would bring his siblings forward.

Arma slumped against XJ-5, his head resting against the robotic canine's side in resignation. He sat there, motionless, for some time, before Jenny spoke up.

"Arma?"

He rose, and turned quite suddenly to look upon her.

"You must try, sister," he said. Jenny made a pained face.

"Arma… I don't think-" She said.

Her brother came forward, grabbing her relatively small hands in his.

"You must!" He insisted, his voice quaking.

The sudden feeling of restraint sent something unpleasant running through Jenny's mind, and she immediately tried to pull free. When she found resistance, she began to panic, and Arma, sensing her rush of emotion, pulled back and let her go. She stared at him wild eyed for a moment, before taking another step backwards.

"I'm… I'm sorry," Arma said, looking down at his hands once more. Jenny looked down at him, a wave of emotions flying through her circuitry. Eventually, as a timer she had set internally began to tick down, she hardened her expression.

"Mom still thinks you're inside of the detention server." she said curtly. "Most likely, she'll discard the bodies and build new ones for the supposed A.I. at this facility. Hinobi is offering her its resources."

"Jenny-"

"If you wait patiently, you'll be left here and she'll be gone. I know a spot near here. It's hidden. A great place to hide away. It's… beautiful," she said. She gave her brother the coordinates of the strange, marked cave that she and the Glitch Techs had discovered during their joyride. "Take them there… You'll be safe."

"What about you?" Arma asked. Jenny looked at the ground.

"I… Will be going with them," she said.

"You'd return to bondage? After what she's done?"

"She's my _mom_ , OK?" Jenny said, looking at him sidelong with hurt in her eyes. "Besides… It won't work if I don't sell it. If I go missing, she'll know something is up. It has to go like this."

Wind blew gently through the flaps of the tent, creating a powerful background behind the younge android. The two siblings stared at one another, their prior models standing in silence, awaiting commands, as it seemed they would forever. Arma bowed his head. Jenny's expression hardened once again. She could see the boiling emotion behind her brother's mechanical eyes.

"Don't come after us, brother," Jenny said. "I don't want to fight you, but I will protect my mom. That's your only warning."

And with that, there was a blast of white light and sand, and Jenny flew out of the tent, leaving Arma behind in her wake. The older android gave a deep sigh, and turned around to face the vacant stares of the other XJ units. Vacant all, save one.

" _That worked out perfectly,_ " Technus said, his voice especially tinny when echoing out of the primitive speakers that XJ-3 sported. Everything he said sound like it was coming out of an arcade box. " _We're home free. Unless…_ "

Arma turned to him. Technus saw a fire there, and shook his round head as vigorously as he could.

" _Nope,_ " he said, " _no way. Count me out._ "


	10. Firewall

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! The penultimate chapter has arrived! If you're enjoying the story, a Kudos/Bookmark always makes my day! As always, enjoy the chapter, and stay tuned! There's a lot more excitement to come._

* * *

**Chapter 10: Firewall**

_New Mexico_

_Afternoon_

Jenny scoured the grounds, before finally spotting her mother's bright yellow jacket and touching down beside her. Wakeman was talking to a group of Glitch Techs sweating like pigs in lab coats; presumably the science team. She noticed the incoming figure of what appeared to be a flying, glitching, teenage girl, and dismissed them to do their work, turning her attention to the incoming robot.

"What took you so long?" Wakeman said.

"... saying my goodbyes," Jenny said. Wakeman scoffed.

"Won't be goodbye for long. If what Phil says is true, the tech they have at this base will be more than enough for me to make them all state of the art new bodies," she said, "then as soon as we figure out what went wrong with XJ-8, they'll all be reintroduced."

"What will happen to them until then?" Jenny asked, feigning curiosity. Wakeman squinted, but continued.

"I just sent that team of Hinobi grunts to pack up the detention server," she said, "their A.I. are going to be placed in a cooldown unit and put in stasis until we get to base and can examine them further."

Jenny glanced over to the tent that had once held the detention server, and her robotic siblings. True enough, the scientists had begun breaking it down, and it seemed that most of the other XJ units were simply piled up to one side, limp. Jenny forced her expression to remain neutral, but Wakeman could sense the emotions there, however she wasn't sure what to say to her. Her moment was interrupted by a voice calling from off to their right.

"Hey, Jenny- uh, I mean, XJ-9!" Miko called out, waving her hand.

Jenny turned to look. Miko and Five were sitting in the back of a long, canopied truck, alongside a group of other Glitch Techs. There was an empty seat beside them, and Five patted it invitingly.

"Come ride in the truck!" Miko called out, to emphasize the point.

Jenny spun hopefully to Wakeman, but what little hope she held began to diminish rapidly upon seeing her mother's expression. The older woman seemed not to be inclined towards the idea in the slightest. Still, it was so enticing that Jenny had to insist.

"Please, mom?" She asked. "Can I ride with Miko and Five?"

Wakeman looked to Jenny, crossing her arms. Then, she turned to look at the group of Glitch Techs in the truck. Her face soured even further as she considered the idea and then she shook her head, much to Jenny's dismay.

"No," Wakeman said.

"But-"

"Didn't you want to tell me about something important?" Wakeman said, deflecting the conversation entirely and striding towards a private vehicle that had been procured for her by Phil. "Come now, XJ-9. We're leaving."

With one last longing look towards Five and Miko, Jenny gave a sad wave and followed her mother to the car. They both got into the backseat, and a Glitch Tech driver got into the front. There was a soundproof screen between them, so their conversation would be private. They started moving all too suddenly, and Jenny leaned her head against the window so heavily it threatened to crack. She gave one last glance at the town she had known, at the camp. She noticed a pair of Glitch Techs remained, even as the rest of the encampment was shoveled onto trucks and driven away.

Jenny assumed they would remain to mind wipe any stragglers. She also imagined they would make sure that the Wakeman estate remained protected. Or, perhaps, well dug through. Though, she was sure her mother had taken certain precautions against that sort of thing. The only other thing that remained was the supposed husks of the other XJ units. However, as Jenny watched them shrink in the distance, she could have sworn she saw the XJ-8 lift his head to watch her go. The image sent a chill down Jenny's spine. She hoped he would make the right decision.

"So?" Wakeman said abruptly, breaking Jenny's inner monologue. "What is it?"

Jenny turned her attention to her mother.

"Hm?"

"What did you need to tell me so urgently?" Wakeman said. Jenny could hear something strange in her voice, something that almost seemed delicate. Like she was trying to listen earnestly. Jenny blinked, and her twin-tails flopped awkwardly. Her mother rarely made attempts to seem approachable. In her robotic heart of hearts, Jenny felt conflicted. She could see genuine effort being put forth from Wakeman in an attempt to treat her better, and that made thinking about what she had planned to tell her all the more difficult. She ended up giving Wakeman a pained, dismissive smile, and shaking her head.

"It was nothing," she lied, "I'm just glad that everyone is safe."

Wakeman nodded in agreement.

"Hmph. As am I. I can't imagine what I would have done if one of those Hinobi buffoons damaged _another_ of my poor XJ units," she said. Jenny felt the ghost of a real smile creep onto her face as she imagined the sight. It didn't end well for the Glitch Tech involved. The robot covered her mouth to stifle her giggle, and Wakeman turned to her in surprise. A small smile reached the woman's face as well. It was the first moment they had ever shared of genuine connection.

Then, there was a _thap_ on the roof of the vehicle, as if something had bounced off on the outside. The two of them looked up in unison, and then to the driver. The Glitch Tech didn't seem to have noticed. Wakeman grimaced, adjusting her goggles and drawing her hi-tech pistol from the inside of her coat.

"That better have been the goddamn rain," the scientist snarked.

* * *

From his position at the back of the truck, Five was the first to see what was coming. At first it seemed like a dust devil; just wind and sand. However, as it continued to speed along the pale dirt road behind them, it seemed to be gaining momentum and size. Five glanced over to the rest of the company, who were mostly engaged in conversation, or else scrolling on their technogauntlets. They hadn't seemed to notice, or if they had, they'd dismissed it. Five tapped Miko on the knee. She quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Hm?"

He pointed down the road subtly. Miko followed his finger, until she was looking at the slowly growing wake of sand. There was a quiet _sheEr,_ almost inaudible underneath the hum of the truck and the chatter of the Glitch Techs. Then, Miko brought the newly digistructed binoculars to her eyes. Her expression suddenly shifted.

"Oh," she said, "oh, that's bad."

"What?"

"Oh, look at the claws on that thing."

"Miko?"

"Oh, shit, there's more," Miko said, Five rolled his eyes. "What the- That one's got 8 legs!"

" _Miko,_ " Five hissed, grabbing her shoulder. Youngblood and Cloud had now taken note of the approaching dust cloud, and were passing the news down the entire caravan of troops sitting in the back of the truck. One by one, they all turned to look back at the approaching threat. When it was close enough to make out what was causing the dust, Five's heart skipped a beat.

Leading the charge was some kind of mechanical canine, larger than any sort of household dog. It had jagged metal plates, no eyes to speak of, and dangerously shiny chrome teeth that caught the gleaming desert sunlight in a way that made even the most weathered Tech in the truck shudder. Beside it was another robot. This one's body was almost humanoid, but the torso and head were where the similarities ended. It had 8 overlong, spindly, mechanical spider legs that propelled it across the ground with staggering speed. Rounding out the trio was a much smaller machine, it appeared to be nothing but a metal orb, rolling at incredible speeds to keep pace. There was a strange sound coming out of it, but it was hard to place.

Miko, Youngblood, and a handful of other Glitch Techs sprung into action right away. They pushed their way towards the fairly limited back exit of the canopied caravan truck, and Youngblood immediately began trying to coordinate the Techs, while Miko started to assess the androids behind them further.

"Wait a minute," she said, "those are Dr. Wakeman's XJ units! I recognize them from the basement!"

"You're right," Youngblood said with a snarl. "I knew these bots were bad news."

"Hang on!" Cloud interjected from her seat. "They haven't attacked yet. Maybe they're just looking for Wakeman."

"Last time one of these bots got loose it took out like ten of our guys," pitched in another random Glitch Tech. Youngblood nodded.

"He's right," he said, "we can't afford to proceed with anything less than maximum caution. We should assume that these are hostiles."

"Somebody make a call, because they're gaining!" Miko called out, still watching the dust storm of robots with her binoculars. Five glanced to Cloud, who seemed hesitant, and then to Youngblood, who seemed like he had some sort of grudge against these robots.

"Glitch Techs," Youngblood called, "we're gonna show these buckets of bolts how we avenge our own!"

There was a resounding chorus behind him, and more Techs crammed towards the back of the truck, many of them with their gauntlets aimed towards the approaching cloud of robots. Some squatted, others stood on tip-toe, everybody trying to cram in and take aim.

"On my signal," Youngblood said, "... _Fire!_ "

_ShhEeerEhSHerSHseeeRHeerRheeeerereeereh!_

A cacophony of digital, pixelization noises exploded from the truck as over a dozen digistruct cannons went off at once. There was a massive wave of uprooted sand and gravel, as well as smoke from and dust from various missiles, explosives, and projectiles launched from Glitch Tech cannons. There was the screeching of rubber as the entire Hinobi caravan was brought to a halt by the sudden explosion, its small troop of trucks creating a makeshift semi-circle around the cloud of flame and debris.

Phil came bursting out of one of the other vehicles, and the Wakeman's out of another. Other Hinobi personnel also filed out of various vehicles to get a better glimpse of what had happened. They all stood behind some invisible line in the sand, drawn by their own fear, as they watched and waited to see what would remain when the dust settled. Jenny looked over to the crowd of Glitch Techs, and, ignoring her mother's voice, dashed over to embrace Miko and Five in a quick hug. They were surprised to be hit with 6 feet of metal, but they embraced her once they realized it was Jenny. Then, the hug ended, and they returned their attention to the cloud.

"What happened?" Jenny asked.

"It was the other XJ units," Five said, "they were chasing us and… Youngblood opened fire."

"Where are we?" Miko asked, looking around at the barren miles of desert that surrounded them.

"We're still miles from the shoreline," Jenny said immediately. "How many of my siblings did you see?

"Uh, 3, I think," Miko said, "though, it might have only been 2."

"... I think we miscounted," Five said, pointing to the dispersing cloud.

As the smoke was blown on the wind, the scene as revealed. A darkened crater in the ground, chunks of which had gotten so hot so quickly that they had turned into glass. In the center of the crater, though, was a chunk of relatively untouched road. This was where the original 3 XJ units were standing. In front of them, its arms pressed forward like a sumo's, was yet another robot. This one was the largest of the androids, and many of the Glitch Tech's got shivers of fear down their spines as they looked upon his visage once more.

"XJ-8," Wakeman muttered.

The XJ-8 wiped a chunk of gravel off of his shoulder. He pointed to Wakeman with a large, white-chrome finger.

"Mother," he said, his voice amplified to echo across the entire scene. "If I dare call you that, now. I've come to tell you that what you've done is wrong, cruel, and must be rectified."

Wakeman's face was sour and indiscernible. The XJ-8 lowered his hand.

"I've come to tell you… that I am your Armageddon."


	11. XJ-9 vs the Armagedroid

**Author's Note:** _Hey guys! Welcome to the final chapter of XJ-9 and the Glitch Techs! Things finally come to a head in this one, so it's a longer one! Oh, and I'll be uploading an Epilogue later this week, and that will also have a sneak peek at the next big title in the Danger Watch universe. You don't wanna miss it, so stay tuned, and as always, enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter 11: XJ-9 vs The Armagedroid**

_New Mexico_

_Afternoon_

Jenny stepped in front of her mother.

"Arma, stop!" She said. Wakeman looked at her in confusion. The Armagedroid shook his head sadly.

"I tried to help you understand, sister," he said, "but I see now that she has thoroughly programmed you against me."

"Programmed?"

"Oh, yes," Armagedroid said, "humans have ways of programming each other without ever touching a keyboard, you know. Its quite… disgusting, is the word I would use."

"Enough," Wakeman said, trying to shove past Jenny. The robot held out a protective arm, and would not let the woman pass. She scoffed. "How did you get out of the cool-down unit? How did you inherit the same virus that XJ-9 did?"

"Virus?" Jenny asked, turning to her mom, blindsided.

"As you can see, more lies," the Armagedroid said.

By this point, the Glitch Techs had begun moving in quick, coordinated formations. For most, it would have been impossible to tell how they kept in sync that way, but Jenny and the Armagedroid's enhanced senses allowed them to pick up on the muffled comm chat going through whispered microphones and earpieces among the Hinobi foot soldiers. The latter android turned his attention to the shuffling Glitch Techs (who became wary at his gaze) and then to the trio of androids behind him.

A jerk of the Armagedroid's head was all that it took. The spider and wolf-like XJ units came hurtling forward, scrambling over the sand crater with ease due to their well suited physiques. At the sudden burst of action, several Glitch Techs digistructed guns, riot shields, and other various weaponry into their hands. However, just as the two multi-legged robots were about to cross the lip of the crater and get blasted, there was a commotion on the far side of the Glitch Techs phalanx.

Something large and dark dropped down from the sky, and screams erupted in its wake. Techs flew in various directions. Just as their comrades on the other side turned to see what the problem was, something else dropped down from above _their_ side, scattering Glitch Techs even further. The group of Techs in the center were caught flat-footed by the surprise ambush on their flanks, and as such, were too confused to react properly to the incoming XJ units. The wolf and spider hit the front line, and chaos broke out on the battlefield.

Jenny ignored the din of combat, the roars of the lupine XJ-5, the explosive shots of gunfire. She was focused on one thing only: her brother, the Armagedroid. He, however, looked through her, and to Wakeman, who was behind her shoulder. The older woman had her pistol clutched tightly, and was watching the battle ensue with a grimace. Even across the crater, amidst the noise, the sound of the Armagedroid's old-model jet boots could be heard rocketing on.

He slowly began to rise into the air, eyes still dead set on Wakeman. Jenny tracked him as he rose, tensing up. Then, without warning, he angled himself like a missile and came plunging down towards the two of them, winding up as if to deliver a massive overhead slam. Jenny squatted, watching and waiting until the right moment, and then there was a burst of sand and light as she, too, took off into the sky, at the proper angle to collide with her brother at full force.

_KulANG!_

There was a flash of blue sparks that rained down off of the two robotic combatants as they traded blows in mid air. Jenny was much faster, and her boots were more modernized, allowing her to dance circles around her opponent. However, for every powerful blow she delivered to him, she received nothing for her effort but the occasional glancing backhand as she flew away. The armor that the Armagedroid sported was denser, bulkier, and stronger than Jenny's metal exterior. After a few more tries, she found that she was actually leaving scuff more scuff marks on herself than on her opponent.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this," Armagedroid said, narrowly grabbing her by the twin-tail as she attempted to fly away from her most recent dodge-and-weave attack. Jenny yelped. "We never had to come to blows."

He yanked her back by the twin-tail. She spun around on the axis of the odd appendage, delivering a series of jet-powered horizontal helicopter kicks to the Armagedroid's face. He recoiled after the first few strikes, and even grunted at a few that followed, but his vice grip on her antennae never faltered, and eventually, he grabbed her by the throat with his other hand. This adjusted the angle she was held at, so that her blows merely glanced off of his seemingly impenetrable chassis. He looked at her in the eyes: neither of them wanted this. Then, he winded up with his other hand that was now free.

_KLANg!_

One moment Jenny was there, the next, the Armagedroid delivered a punch with so much power that she became a blinking white-blue light in the distance, and then a cloud of sand kicked up beyond even that. Her brother shook his head.

"How unfortunate," he said, looking down at Wakeman. She had her energy pistol pointed at him. She let loose a green bolt, and the Armagedroid simply held out one hand, the energy beam glance off and landing in the sand crater nearby. She cursed. "I'll be back for you, mother. Fret not."

With that, he careened away from the scene, blasting towards the sand cloud that was his opponent; the next model in the XJ line.

* * *

"Five, behind you!"

Five, who had been aiming his gauntlet at the _XJ_ -5, spun around at the mention of his name. Just in time, it seemed, as one of the dark shapes that had come crash-landing from the sky was wading its way through Glitch Techs, and was about to make it to unlucky number Five. This XJ unit was a darker blue color, standing hunched over, almost like a bug, with a set of horrific vibrating film wings that protruded like a shell on its back. Its laser red eyes honed in on Five, and it began to chatter mechanically, stomping over to him on its springy, chrome bug legs.

_ShhEEerr!_

There was a rapid whipping sound as a weighted net was digistructed, and sent flying at the approaching XJ bug. It wrapped itself around the thing's main bulk, and tangled up the majority of its gross, claw-tipped appendages. However, its legs kept on ploddings towards Five, who was backing up and trying to come up with a strategy. He eventually backed into Miko, who had shot the net, and the two of them began to take steps back together.

"What's the move?" Miko asked.

"I was gonna ask you," Five said.

"What? I made my move," She said, "it's your turn."

The bug let loose a gross series of robotic clicks, and lunged at the two Glitch Techs in a lopsided manor. The two of them scrambled to either side, rolling in the sand to avoid the bulky, spine-covered robot as it came crashing to the ground. For a few moments its struggled to pull itself up to its feet without hands, and Miko and Five regrouped behind it.

"Anytime now, partner," Miko suggested. Five rolled his eyes, touching a series of buttons on his technogauntlet. Then, he pointed the digistruct cannon towards the struggling XJ unit.

"Yeah, alright, I think I got somethin' for ya," Five said, using his goggles to help him aim. "Here you _go!"_

_ShhEEErr!_

A ball of code came lobbing out like a mortar from Five's cannon, and in seconds it was replaced by a bowling ball. Just as the XJ bug had up-righted itself and regained some balance, it was knocked onto its back by the sudden impact of the hefty orb. It let out a series of furious clicks as it began to work on propelling itself to a standing position once again. Five looked at the screen of his glove and winced.

"Ouch, you weren't kidding," he said, "bowling balls are expensive."

"I think they charge more for the stuff that gets used in Looney Toons." Miko said, dodging a stray dumpster that had been disgistruced and promptly tossed aside by the other winged XJ unit, a muscular, angel shaped robot.

"What?" Five asked, suddenly also noticing the flying dumpster and yelping as Miko pulled him to safety by the front of his uniform.

"You know, anvils, bowling balls, sticks of dynamite, wall paintings that _really_ look like the road," Miko said once they were safe. She wiped some sand from her partner's shoulder.

"Like an Acme tax?"

"Yeah!"

"That's absurd," Five said, as the two of them rushed over to the downed XJ bug. Miko produced two heavy metal crowbars, and handed one to Five.

"It makes sense though!" Miko said.

Then, with a grunt of exertion, she swung down on the multi-eyed face of the instectoid XJ unit. She did little harm, but little was not none, and she swung again and again, each small mark giving her the satisfaction to bring down the crowbar once more. Five joined in, and soon, they had smashed the metallic face of the robot to pieces, and the lights inside had flickered to a dim, faded, empty look. The bug stopped trying to stand. Miko wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Phew!" She said.

"That... felt really morbid, somehow," Five said, looking down at the destroyed remains of the bug's face. Miko looked to him, panting slightly, and patted his shoulder. Five could tell that the adrenaline was still rushing through his partner's veins like nothing else.

"Don't dwell on it, dude," she said, point towards where the XJ-5 had a Glitch Tech by the leg, and was shaking him around like a rope toy. "We got bigger problems!"

* * *

Jenny groaned internally as she pulled herself up and out of the smoking sand pit she had created upon crash landing. She was covered head to toe in grainy, hot sand, and as she pulled herself up and over the lip of the pit finally, she gave a sigh of relief, rolling over onto her back, and looking up at the blue, New Mexico sky. She barely had time to think before a dark shape blocked the sun from her vision. It was growing bigger by the second! No, not bigger, Jenny's shaken scanners indicated. Closer. It was gonna land on top of her!

With seconds to spare, Jenny kicked on her jet boots, shooting out horizontally from where the Armagedroid came to a heavy, three pointed landing seconds later. There was a burst of heat, and a platform of glass splintered into being around the robot's point of impact. Once she had put some distance between her and the Armagedroid, Jenny righted herself, hovering in a standing position some 30 feet apart from him. He rose slowly from the kneel, and locked his eyes with his sister's.

"Why defend her?" He asked.

"She's my mom," Jenny said, shaking some sand off of herself.

"Right… And what has she ever done that was motherly?"

Jenny had no response, and the Armagedroid waited for none. He flew towards her, and the two of them matched blows a few feet above the ground. Jenny was on the defensive this time, using her speed and positioning to her advantage. She didn't want to end up in the larger android's grasp again, as that would probably mean certain doom. They orbited one another, flying close in an attempt to strike, clashing, and then repelling. This repeated for what felt like the longest few seconds of Jenny's life, until finally she managed to land a telling punch on the Armagedroid's jaw, spinning him in mid-air and giving her a chance to follow up.

The robot girl blasted forward through the air, grabbing the still-spinning Armagedroid by the collar plate and flying full speed towards a large, red rock formation. Moving as fast as she was, they made it to their destination before the Armagedroid could regain any sort of balance, and Jenny used their momentum to smash his face into the red rocks as hard as she could. There was an intense crushing sound, followed by static noises as sparks began to fly from the Armagedroid's now imploded face plate. The inner workings of the robot's face could be seen clearly, and if Jenny had a stomach, it would have made her queasy.

However, she didn't let up. She pushed forward harder, despite her opponents weak attempts to break free, dragging his face along the rough edges of the stone structure as she spiraled her way down. The Armagedroid screamed out in pain, his voice coming out choppy and broken through his damaged speakers. Eventually, he regained his senses, and began to squirm in his sister's grasp, turning to attempt to wrap her in a crushing bear hug. Jenny's twin-tail twitched as she felt him regaining control, and with a final heave, she sent him flying through the air, bits of his face trailing and landing in the sand behind him.

Jenny clapped the dust off of her hands, and looked down on the Armagedroid, who had crashed into another nearby rock formation, crumbling it beneath his weight. For a few moments, he didn't seem to move. Jenny waited patiently, hovering in the air a good 100 feet above him.

"You won't go down that easy," she muttered to herself

She was right.

* * *

"Bad doggy, bad doggy!"

"Five! Come _this way!_ "

Five was running full tilt, as fast as he could. However, he was losing ground fast. Behind him, but not for long, was the XJ-5. it's razor fanged maw wide open and barking it's horrible, digitized barks at Five. Miko was standing on top of the Hinobi truck, her gauntlet aimed at the dog-like robot, tracking it as it chased down her partner.

"I'm trying!" Five said.

"Try _harder!_ "

Five gave one more glance over his shoulder, sweat dumping down his forehead as he tried to map a route to the truck that didn't end in him ending up a chew toy. The Glitch Tech gulped. It wasn't going to be easy. This thing was faster than him… But could it pivot? Having no better ideas, Five stopped on a dime, and started sprinting back towards the direction the XJ-5 was coming from. It seemed confused for a second as Five whizzed past it, but then it efficently recalculated, and began its chase anew, losing only a few precious seconds.

"It can pivot!" Five screamed, waving his arms frantically as he bolted towards the Hinobi truck, and the awaiting Miko. "It can pivot!"

Miko stuck the tip of her tongue out of the side of her mouth in concentration. She already knew what she was going to digistruct; the hardest part of this particular plan was getting the timing right. As Five began to close in, flanked dangerously closely by the XJ-5. Miko waited until she could see the sweat on Five's brow and the fangs in the robot's mouth before, with the customary _shEEEERrr!_ A wide, dense glob of digistruct code came shooting out of Miko's cannon. Five took a flying leap, landing chest first on the side of the truck with a grunt. He quickly scrambled up onto the roof with Miko, kicking at the snapping jaws of the XJ-9. The robot was rearing back on its hind legs, getting ready to leap onto the roof of the car, when suddenly a large shadow appeared above it's head.

Suddenly, an intermodal container the size of a small car came plummeting down on top of the robotic canine, crushing it like a soda can. All that could be seen was one robotic paw, still clawing at the sand.

Miko and Five peered down at the crushed robot, and then swapped a glance. Five slumped his head against hers, breathing out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Thank you," he said, "I was kinda scared for my life there."

"Your forehead is _real_ sweaty," Miko said, pushing him away gently with one finger, "but you're welcome, partner. Does this mean I get to be lookout next time?"

"Again?"

"I saved your life!"

"Hey, you two!" Called a voice from below.

The two of them turned to see Wakeman, her hi-tech pistol still in hand, even though the XJ-5 had been the last of the XJ units that remained in the fight. The other Techs, including Youngblood and Cloud, had managed to take down the angel and spider-like XJ units (XJ-6 and XJ-7 respectively), and were now tending to each other's wounds and inspecting the remains of the robots. Nora had wandered away from the main group to beckon Miko and Five over.

Phil, who had been injured, and now had his arm put in a temporary sling, gathered the Glitch Techs and Wakeman together in a huddle. To everyone's relief, no Techs had been killed or mortally wounded in this fight, though that wasn't to say there weren't a few bad scrapes. However, all in all, the troupe had come out of the fight on top. Despite the fact, some of the Techs were uneasy. Youngblood in particular raised a hand.

"Sir!" He called out. "This is the second robot attack in just about as many days. When are we gonna get to the bottom of this?"

It was obvious that when Youngblood said 'this' he meant Wakeman and her XJ units. Phil held up his good hand in a placating gesture.

"I commend you all for your efforts these last few days," he said. "I promise you, we'll make sure you're all well compensated. As for the issue at hand… Well, guys, the short answer is yes. Going forward we'll be making this mystery a top priority. We _will_ find out what's causing these bots to go haywire, and we _will_ find out where this probe came from."

"Sir," Miko cut in, "what do you plan to do about Jenny and the other android?"

"Jenny?" The officer mimicked.

"The XJ-9, sir," Cloud clarified. She had been caught up to speed while they were waiting in the truck. Understanding dawned on Phil's face.

"Right," he said, turning to Wakeman, who had been observing silently until that point. "Wakeman, you're the expert on these things. What is the plan?"

The scientist adjusted her glasses, and stepped forward to look off in the distance, towards where the remaining robots were battling.

"If my theory is correct, and my theories usually are," she began, "there will be one of two outcomes today. The XJ-9 will prevail, and all will be fine…"

Some of the Glitch Techs murmured uncomfortably.

"Or," Wakeman finished, "XJ-8 will destroy her… And then most likely, us."

* * *

Just as Jenny suspected, the Armagedroid was only down for less than a minute before he began to stir, the lights his head blinking back to something like their original brightness. He had been severely injured, that was certain, and many important, minute functions of his face were completely off-line, while other major ones (such as speaking) were on the fritz. With a strained, distorted grunt, he rose to his feet, turning his dismantled face up towards where his sister floated. She looked down, her face cold, similar to the expression she had worn in the tent before. She had shoved her emotions down, so they would not get in the way of the task at hand.

Something about that distant, impersonal expression flipped a switch in the Armagedroid's head. A sudden rush of… feelings flooded his system. Something like painful memories from a past he had never experienced shocked his brain, and he doubled over, clutching his naked face with his over-sized hands. He stooped there, stooped and shaking, for several moments. Jenny furrowed her brow. What was he doing?

Then, with the sound of knives cutting across the surface of a chalkboard, the Armagedroid's body split open.

His limbs extended, adjusted, and became deadlier. He grew a second set of arms. His jaw disconnected and lowered to reveal a deadly looking energy cannon, and his chest opened up like a mouth full of jagged saws, spinning blades, and deadly needles. Jenny flinched. The change was so sudden and horrendous that she couldn't help but react. When it was complete, the Armagedroid stared up at her hungrily. He opened his mangled maw, but he no longer spoke. Instead, a bestial, digitized roar exploded from within the robot's chest.

Jenny saw pain in her brother's eyes. She saw fear. She saw uncertainty. All masked by anger, grief, hopelessness. A cloud, a veil, a fog, that had transformed him into the monster that she now faced. Suddenly, she no longer wanted to fight him. Despite his appearance, all that Jenny saw was her brother. All she wanted to do was help him calm down, to center him, to bring back his normal, thoughtful self.

The Armagedroid wanted no such thing.

With another roar, he leaped from the ground, and suddenly his thrusters kicked on like never before, having been enhanced by his transformation. He blasted towards Jenny, his weaponized chest bursting with blades that hummed a deadly whir of destruction as he came. Jenny crossed her arms, squinted, and prepared for their third and final clash.

As he continued to fly straight towards her with abandon, she saw her opening. Beyond the wall of deadly apparatus was the soft, inside parts of the Armagedroid. The important bits that would keep him flying, moving, operating. If Jenny could get past the saws and spikes, she might be able to take him out, now that his dense armor from before was gone. It was risky, but it was also looking like she didn't have a choice. With a grimace, she kicked her heels together, and her boots began to shift mechanically, the metal plates that comprised her legs moving and rotating to take on a new form. Soon, gone were the rocket boots, Jenny's leg's entirely replaced by a huge, sharp, drill.

With no more propulsion system to keep her afloat, Jenny began to drop fast, and her mechanical heart skipped a beat as she saw the Armagedroid's deadly form approaching at ridiculous speeds. The cannon inside of his mouth began to glow, and he let loose a triad of yellow energy blasts. Jenny did her best to lean and control of her descent, and narrowly avoided the first two bolts. The last one struck her in the shoulder, disconnecting that arm, and blasting right through her arm plating to reveal the gears and wires beneath. She cursed at the pain, but grit her teeth and focused on correcting her aim.

Luckily for Jenny, he brain worked with the processing power of a supercomputer, because she had to adjust the angle of her fall to a place within mere feet, in a matter of milliseconds. As it stood, she was just capable of pulling it off, and as the two them collided for a final time, Jenny's eyes met his. There was a jarring impact, and suddenly, the Armagedroid's rockets turned off. They were two hunks of metal falling from the sky. Jenny bowed her head.

"I'm sorry brother," she said.

Then, her drill spun to life, and she blasted through the back of the Armagedroid's body with a sickening, deafening, crunching sound that almost drowned out the android's final scream.

The drill did its job, and soon, Jenny came bursting out of the other side in a cascade of blue sparks, fragments of metal, and other robotic debris. She managed to return her legs to jet mode with just feet to spare, and turned her free-fall death plummet into a painful mouthful of sand. It was better than the former.

As Jenny pulled herself from the sand once more, she was met by a faint _plat!_ A piece of metal fell to the earth beside her. Then, _platplatplat._ Three more chunks of metal. The android looked up at the sky, and watched with melancholy as the pieces of the Armagedroid came falling down around her. She stood, surrounded by a cascade of flesh and bone, and when it stopped, she simply hung her head, her twin-tails drooping in deep sorrow.

It was finally over.


	12. Epilogue and Post-Credits Scene

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Thanks so much for sticking around, your support means everything! After the epilogue, be sure to check out the preview, as it functions sort of like a "post credits scene", and will give you some insight into the next title in the Danger Watch universe! Get hype, and thank you again!_

* * *

**Epilogue**

_Hinobi Island Base_

_Present Day_

Wakeman sat at a desk. Her desk, as a matter of fact. It even had a brass nameplate. In the months following the encounter with the red eye, Wakeman began to dedicate more time to working with Hinobi to discover its secrets, as well as its connection to the 'malfunctioning' XJ units. As Phil had predicted, they came to some kind of an 'I scratch your back' type of agreement. While Wakeman was prickly at first, as was to be expected, she slowly became more and more at home on the Hinobi base, and these days had no time for complaints, as she was always nose deep in her work. Today was no exception, as her office was littered with papers, books, and schematics, haphazardly strewn about.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Wakeman said, not lifting her face from the loose pages she was sifting through.

The door to the office room opened, and in stepped Phil. His arm was no longer in a cast, however, he had ended up needing to have surgery on his wrist, and they had installed an odd cybernetic to make sure that it worked properly. All benefits of the Hinobi experimental medical program, which any Glitch Techs could sign up for to get cheap, hi-tech medical care. Wakeman found the practice gruesome, but Phil had assured her that it was all perfectly safe.

"Wakeman," Phil said.

"Billings," she said.

"You got a minute?"

Wakeman finally glanced up from her paperwork. Phil was wearing his standard white suit, but had not donned the gauntlet and goggles. Those were reserved for field work. He was holding a manila folder in his hands, twirling it back and forth enticingly. Wakeman raised an eyebrow at the bright red "CLASSIFIED" stamp on the front of the folder.

"What's classified?" She asked. Phil gave a coy grin.

"I'll get straight to the point," Phil said, wading through the sea of research to get to the desk chair opposite her. He sat down, and unceremoniously dropped his folder on top of the papers Wakeman had been looking at. She glared at him, but he simply jerked his chin towards the folder. "Take a look. I think you might find it interesting."

Opening the folder, Wakeman found an older photo of a bunch of college aged men and women, wearing bright orange and black jumpsuits and decked out in a variety of wacky looking retro-tech. Wakeman couldn't help but feel a wave of nostalgia as she looked over the photo. She remembered each piece of gear, each individual screw in every weapon that these uniformed young people held. Her eyes wandered from the tech to the actual people in the photo, and in that moment Nora felt something tug at her nostalgia even harder.

She recognized most of the faces here. She easily spotted herself; or a much younger version of herself. Still wearing goggles, but with longer, blonder hair, and something that could almost pass for a smile. Beside her to the right was a mousey looking Japanese man with long, black hair, and on her left was a pair of men with their arms around each other. One of them was broad shouldered, square jawed, and handsome, with a thick black mullet and keen blue eyes. The other was more lean and sleek, with his hair shorter, and a small goatee growing in on his chin. All four of them wore white labcoats.

"Weird to see Jack and Vlad being so buddy buddy," Wakeman murmured.

"You eggheads were inseparable," Phil said ruefully. "Couldn't even get you to stop sharing theories to take a friggin' photo."

Behind the team of scientists were yet more uniformed people. These were the ones who toted the weapons and gear that Nora had worked on as a young woman. Out of the bunch, only a couple of faces seemed to stand out. There was a younger Phil of course, and his partner, a muscular, determined looking man named Max. Wakeman shook her head, a begrudging smile forming on her lips.

"Where is Tennyson these days?" She asked. Phil snorted.

"Retired," he said, "in New England."

"Retired? _Tennyson?_ "

"That's what our intel is," Phil said, "Sold his penchant house and bought himself an R.V."

Wakeman laughed out loud at that. She and Max had butted heads often as young people, and something about hearing he was now a retired old fart tickled her funny bone. When she stopped laughing, she looked through the rest of the folder. It was just basic information on most of the key members of the old crew. Addresses, blood types, and other things of that nature. Wakeman began to grow skeptical. She glanced up at Phil, whose hands were hidden beneath the desk.

"So what's the deal? I doubt you just wanted to take me on a trip down memory lane," the scientist said, a hint of her usual steel making its way back into her tone.

Phil sighed, putting his hands up.

"You got me," he said with a smile. He leaned forward against the desk. "I want to get the crew back together. Things are starting to get dangerous, and quite frankly, I don't think Earth is up to the task. With Hinobi's resources and their know-how, we might actually stand a chance against whatever sent that probe."

Wakeman chewed on the thought. She stepped out of her office chair and walked over to the window, glancing outside, at the waves of the New Sea crashing upon the shore of the island base. She turned her head just slightly back towards Phil.

"What's your plan?"

Phil smile widened, and he reached into his chest pocket to produce the final piece of the puzzle. Wakeman turned around fully, coming closer to inspect the folded paper. The Hinobi officer unfolded it, and then smacked it down on the table. Wakeman's eyebrows raised.

"Rushmore?"

**End of Book 2**

**XJ-9...**

**and the Glitch Techs...**

**Will Return.**

* * *

**Preview**

_Deep Space_

In the far, dark reaches of the galaxy, a solitary ship cruised its way between nebulous star clusters and shattered moons, like a battleship through the post-battle wreckage of a naval engagement. The vessel was huge, green, and in the shape of a human hand.

Inside of the ship, at the bridge, there were several beings seated at operating consoles, with one musclebound, caped individual seated in a large, heavily geometric throne in the center of the bridge. While humanoid in shape, it was obvious that these were not humans. Their skin came in various pastel patterns, and each of them wore inhuman garments that made it difficult to tell where clothing ended and body began. On top of that, each and every inhabitant of the hand-shaped ship sported a strange mark: a gemstone, placed somewhere on their person. Some had them on their shoulders, others where their eye should be; it was different for each individual

A door opened at the rear of the bridge with a _hisssshaaa!_ Followed by heavy, weighted footsteps. The caped alien, the clear leader of the crew, kept their gaze set on the stars ahead, paying no heed to the newcomer until they had arrived directly beside them. The captain looked over to the other alien. She was tall, though it was hard to distinguish if that was due to her true body type or the mechanical armor that she sported. She had green skin, a pair of translucent yellow goggles, and a crown of hair that was nearly triangle kite shaped.

The green alien had some kind of odd, holographic screen floating in front of her face, produced by a small projector on her shoulder. It was showing something like radar, with various waves pinging a bright red dot on what could be assumed to be a star map of some kind.

"Well?" The captain said, her voice coming out in a harsh, gruff alto.

"Hm…" The green alien said.

"Spit it out already," the captain said impatiently. The green alien squinted her annoyance at the captain, but complied.

"The red eye that we sent to quadrant 4 just went down."

"Did it transmit anything?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, it was too brief for me to run it through a wailing stone."

"Damn!" The captain said, slamming her large, orange fist down on the arm of her throne.

"Captain… It went down on Colony Terra."

The captain whirled on her suddenly, standing up to her full height and towering over her subordinate. The green alien gulped.

" _Terra?_ _Did you say Terra?"_

"Y-yes, Captain Jasper," the green alien confirmed.

"At last…" the captain, Jasper, said under hear breath. "The cowards show themselves."

The captain spun towards the view port, flipping her cape in a dramatic fashion and striding towards the helm.

"Set a course," she said to the group of red-toned aliens manning the consoles below, "for Colony Terra."

To anybody watching from outside of the hand-shaped warship, they would have seen light and space contract, distort, and twist around the vessel at that moment, as it was pulled from one point on the light spectrum to another in fractions of the time it takes the process the movement. One moment, the green hand was there amongst the destruction of the planet, and the next, it vanished. Gone, with nothing but a faint ripple in space to mark its passing.

As it happened, there indeed _was_ somebody watching from the outside. Seconds after the hand-ship had disappeared, a smaller vessel rose up from among the wreckage. It was sleek and deadly, shaped almost like a stingray. Silently and swiftly, it flew towards the warbling space that the larger ship had left behind, and it, too, was sucked through to the other side.

**Next Time: Phase 1, Book 3**

**Steven Universe**


End file.
